The Thermoanaerobacterales is a

polyphyletic A polyphyletic group is an assemblage of organisms or other evolving elements that is of mixed evolutionary origin. The term is often applied to groups that share similar features known as homoplasies, which are explained as a result of conver ...

order of

bacteria Bacteria (; singular: bacterium) are ubiquitous, mostly free-living organisms often consisting of one Cell (biology), biological cell. They constitute a large domain (biology), domain of prokaryotic microorganisms. Typically a few micrometr ...

placed within the

class Class or The Class may refer to: Common uses not otherwise categorized * Class (biology), a taxonomic rank * Class (knowledge representation), a collection of individuals or objects * Class (philosophy), an analytical concept used differentl ...

Clostridia The Clostridia are a highly polyphyletic class of Bacillota, including ''Clostridium'' and other similar genera. They are distinguished from the Bacilli by lacking aerobic respiration. They are obligate anaerobes and oxygen is toxic to them. S ...

, and encompassing four families: the

Thermoanaerobacteraceae The Thermoanaerobacteraceae is a highly polyphyletic family of bacteria placed within the class clostridia. Originally placed within the highly polyphyletic class Clostridia and order Thermoanaerobacterales, according to the NCBI and LPSN, it i ...

, the Thermodesulfobiaceae, the Thermoanaerobacterales Family III. Incertae Sedis, and the Thermoanaerobacterales Family IV. Incertae Sedis, and various unplaced genera. This order is noted for the species' abilities to survive in

extreme environments An extreme environment is a habitat that is considered very hard to survive in due to its considerably extreme conditions such as temperature, accessibility to different energy sources or under high pressure. For an area to be considered an extrem ...

without oxygen and of relatively elevated temperatures for a living being (up to 80-90 °C). An example organism in this order is '' Thermoanaerobacter ethanolicus''.C.Michael Hogan. 2010
''Extremophile''. eds. E.Monosson & C.Cleveland, Encyclopedia of Earth. National Council for Science and the Environment, Washington DC.
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Phylogeny

The Thermoanaerobacterales, as previously mentioned, is

, and consists numerous morphologically similar clades:

Phylogeny

Note:
* polyphyletic Thermoanaerobacterales

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q871759 Bacteria orders Clostridia Thermophiles Anaerobes Polyphyletic groups