The paracercomonads are a group of
cercozoan protists
A protist () is any eukaryotic organism (that is, an organism whose cells contain a cell nucleus) that is not an animal, plant, or fungus. While it is likely that protists share a common ancestor (the last eukaryotic common ancestor), the excl ...
.
Taxonomically, they comprise the family Paracercomonadidae, order Paracercomonadida and subclass Paracercomonada. Due to their morphological similarities to the
cercomonads, members of this family were grouped with ''
Cercomonas
Cercomonads are small flagellates, widespread in aqueous habitats and common in soils.
Characteristics
The cells are generally around 10 μm in length, without any shell or covering. They produce filose pseudopods to capture bacteria, but do n ...
'' and similar taxa from the beginning. However, their similarities are due to
convergent evolution.
Classification
There are currently 5 genera of paracercomonads:
*''
Brevimastigomonas''
*''
Metabolomonas''
*''
Nucleocercomonas''
*''
Paracercomonas''
*''
Phytocercomonas''
References
{{Cercozoa-stub
Cercozoa families