''Voromonas'' is a genus of predatory alveolates. The genus and species were described by Mylnikov in 2000. It was originally described as ''Colpodella pontica'' but was later renamed by Cavalier-Smith and Chao in 2004.

Taxonomy

There is one species known in this genus. A DNA based analysis suggests that this species may be related to the ''

Colpodella ''Colpodella'' is a genus of alveolates comprising 5 species, and two further possible species: They share all the synapomorphies of apicomplexans, but are free-living, rather than parasitic. Many members of this genus were previously assigned to ...

''.

Feeding

At the anterior end of the protozoan, this organism manifests a rostrum which contains a microtubular structure (the pseudoconoid) The pseudoconoid forms an open cone and which is located adjacent to

microtubular Microtubules are polymers of tubulin that form part of the cytoskeleton and provide structure and shape to eukaryotic cells. Microtubules can be as long as 50 micrometres, as wide as 23 to 27 nm and have an inner diameter between ...

bands, micronemes and

rhoptries A rhoptry is a specialized secretory organelle. They are club-shaped organelles connected by thin necks to the extreme apical pole of the parasite. These organelles, like micronemes, are characteristic of the motile stages of Apicomplexa protoz ...

. The pseudoconoid begins near the kinetosomes of the

flagella A flagellum (; ) is a hairlike appendage that protrudes from certain plant and animal sperm cells, and from a wide range of microorganisms to provide motility. Many protists with flagella are termed as flagellates. A microorganism may have f ...

and passes along the flagellate pocket into the rostrum. While feeding on prey organisms the rostrum is inserted into the body of the prey and the cytoplasm is sucked out. Known prey organisms include

bodonid Bodonida is an order of kinetoplastid flagellate excavates. It contains the genera ''Bodo Bodo may refer to: Ethnicity * Boro people, an ethno-linguistic group mainly from Northwest Assam, India * Bodo-Kachari people, an umbrella group fro ...

chrysomonad The Chrysophyceae, usually called chrysophytes, chrysomonads, golden-brown algae or golden algae are a large group of algae, found mostly in freshwater. Golden algae is also commonly used to refer to a single species, ''Prymnesium parvum'', which ...

s, percolomonads. Known non prey organisms include naked amoebas, ciliates, cryptomonads and colorless

euglenoid Euglenids (euglenoids, or euglenophytes, formally Euglenida/Euglenoida, ICZN, or Euglenophyceae, ICBN) are one of the best-known groups of flagellates, which are excavate eukaryotes of the phylum Euglenophyta and their cell structure is typical o ...

References

Alveolata genera Monotypic SAR supergroup genera {{alveolate-stub