Phagomyxids are a group of
obligate {{wiktionary, obligate
As an adjective, obligate means "by necessity" (antonym ''facultative'') and is used mainly in biology in phrases such as:
* Obligate aerobe, an organism that cannot survive without oxygen
* Obligate anaerobe, an organism that ...
endoparasitic
Parasitism is a close relationship between species, where one organism, the parasite, lives on or inside another organism, the host, causing it some harm, and is adapted structurally to this way of life. The entomologist E. O. Wilson has c ...
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 ...
belonging to the subphylum
Endomyxa
Endomyxa is a subphylum of Rhizaria
The Rhizaria are an ill-defined but species-rich supergroup of mostly unicellular eukaryotes. Except for the Chlorarachniophytes and three species in the genus Paulinella in the phylum Cercozoa, they are all ...
in
Cercozoa
Cercozoa is a phylum of diverse single-celled eukaryotes. They lack shared morphological characteristics at the microscopic level, and are instead defined by molecular phylogenies of rRNA and actin or polyubiquitin. They were the first major eu ...
.
Taxonomically, they are united under a single family Phagomyxidae, order Phagomyxida, sister to the
plasmodiophore
The plasmodiophores (also known as plasmophorids or plasmodiophorids) are a group of obligate endoparasitic protists belonging to the subphylum Endomyxa in Cercozoa. Taxonomically, they are united under a single family Plasmodiophoridae, order ...
s.
Ecology
Phagomyxids are mainly parasites of
brown algae
Brown algae (singular: alga), comprising the class Phaeophyceae, are a large group of multicellular algae, including many seaweeds located in colder waters within the Northern Hemisphere. Brown algae are the major seaweeds of the temperate and po ...
,
but some can parasite
oomycetes
Oomycota forms a distinct phylogenetic lineage of fungus-like eukaryotic microorganisms, called oomycetes (). They are filamentous and heterotrophic, and can reproduce both sexually and asexually. Sexual reproduction of an oospore is the result ...
.
Taxonomy
The group was created in 1993 by
Cavalier-Smith
Thomas (Tom) Cavalier-Smith, FRS, FRSC, NERC Professorial Fellow (21 October 1942 – 19 March 2021), was a professor of evolutionary biology in the Department of Zoology, at the University of Oxford.
His research has led to disc ...
, when it contained only the genus ''
Phagomyxa''.
Since then, ''
Maullinia
''Maullinia'' is a genus of intracellular, protistan parasites that infect brown algae (Phaeophyceae).
Distribution
''Maullinia'' has been found in brown macroalgae across the Southern Hemisphere, including Chile, the Falkland Islands, Australia ...
'', a genus previously in
Plasmodiophoridae
The plasmodiophores (also known as plasmophorids or plasmodiophorids) are a group of obligate endoparasitic protists belonging to the subphylum Endomyxa in Cercozoa. Taxonomically, they are united under a single family Plasmodiophoridae, order P ...
, has joined the phagomyxids.
* ''
Phagomyxa''
* ''
Maullinia
''Maullinia'' is a genus of intracellular, protistan parasites that infect brown algae (Phaeophyceae).
Distribution
''Maullinia'' has been found in brown macroalgae across the Southern Hemisphere, including Chile, the Falkland Islands, Australia ...
''
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q21223249
Cercozoa families
Cercozoa orders
Endomyxa