''Waminoa litus'' is a species of
dinoflagellate-bearing
acoels
Acoela, or the acoels, is an order of small and simple invertebrates in the subphylum Acoelomorpha of phylum Xenacoelomorpha, a deep branching bilaterian group of animals, which resemble flatworms. Historically they were treated as an order of ...
which are
epizoic
An epibiont (from the Ancient Greek meaning "living on top of") is an organism that lives on the surface of another living organism, called the basibiont ("living underneath"). The interaction between the two organisms is called epibiosis. An ep ...
on living
coral
Corals are marine invertebrates within the class Anthozoa of the phylum Cnidaria. They typically form compact colonies of many identical individual polyps. Coral species include the important reef builders that inhabit tropical oceans and ...
s.
This species is unique in that it transmits its
endosymbiotic
An ''endosymbiont'' or ''endobiont'' is any organism that lives within the body or cells of another organism most often, though not always, in a mutualistic relationship.
(The term endosymbiosis is from the Greek: ἔνδον ''endon'' "within ...
dinoflagellates (
zooxanthellae
Zooxanthellae is a colloquial term for single-celled dinoflagellates that are able to live in symbiosis with diverse marine invertebrates including demosponges, corals, jellyfish, and nudibranchs. Most known zooxanthellae are in the genus ''S ...
) vertically (from the parent host to the offspring) via eggs, regardless of the heterogeneity of the zooxanthellae.
Two dinoflagellate genera have been found to simultaneously live in the parenchyma of ''W. litus'': ''
Symbiodinium
: ''This is about the genus sometimes called Zoox. For the company, see Zoox (company)''
''Symbiodinium'' is a genus of dinoflagellates that encompasses the largest and most prevalent group of endosymbiotic dinoflagellates known. These unicell ...
'' and ''
Amphidinium.''
References
Acoelomorphs
{{Xenacoelomorpha-stub