Appendix E  Classification

DOMAIN EUKARYA: Kingdom Protista

Eukaryotic; usually unicellular; some multicellular or colonial; heterotrophic or autotrophic organisms.

ANIMALLIKE PROTISTS

Unicellular; heterotrophic; usually motile; also known as protozoa.

PHYLUM CILIOPHORA

(ciliates) All have cilia at some point in development; almost all use cilia to move; characterized by two types of nuclei: macronuclei and micronuclei; most have a sexual process known as conjugation. Examples: Paramecium, Didinium, Stentor.

PHYLUM ZOOMASTIGINA

(zooflagellates) Possess one or more flagella (some have thousands). Examples: Trichomonas, Trichonympha.

PHYLUM SPOROZOA

Nonmotile parasites; produce small infective cells called sporozoites; life cycles usually complex, involving more than one host species; cause a number of diseases, including malaria. Example: Plasmodium.

PHYLUM SARCODINA

Sarcodines use pseudopods for feeding and movement; some produce elaborate shells that contain silica or calcium carbonate; most free-living; a few parasitic; some involved in formation of sedimentary rock. Examples: Amoeba, foraminiferans.

PLANTLIKE PROTISTS

Mostly unicellular photosynthetic autotrophs that have characteristics similar to those of plants. A few species are multicellular or heterotrophic.

PHYLUM EUGLENOPHYTA

(euglenophytes) Primarily photosynthetic; most live in fresh water; possess two unequal flagella; lack cell walls. Example: Euglena.

PHYLUM PYRROPHYTA

(dinoflagellates) Two flagella; most live in salt water, are photosynthetic, and have rigid cell walls that contain cellulose; some are luminescent; many are symbiotic. Examples: Gonyaulux, Noctilucans scintillans.

PHYLUM CHRYSOPHYTA

(chrysophytes) Mostly photosynthetic; aquatic; mostly unicellular; contain yellow-brown pigments. Example: Thallasiosira.

PHYLUM BACILLARIOPHYTA

(diatoms) Photosynthetic; live in fresh and salt water; have unique glasslike cell walls; among the most abundant organisms on Earth. Example: Navicula.

PHYLUM CHLOROPHYTA

(green algae) Live in fresh water and salt water; unicellular or multicellular; chlorophylls and accessory pigments similar to those in vascular plants; food stored as starch. Examples: Ulva, Chlamydomonas, Spirogyra.

PHYLUM PHAEOPHYTA

(brown algae) Live almost entirely in salt water; multicellular; contain brown pigment fucoxanthin. Examples: Fucus (rockweed), kelp, Sargassum.

PHYLUM RHODOPHYTA

(red algae) Live almost entirely in salt water; multicellular; contain red pigment phycobilins. Examples: Chondrus (Irish moss), coralline algae.

FUNGUSLIKE PROTISTS

Heterotrophs that have some characteristics similar to those of fungi, though they have centrioles and lack cell walls of chitin.

PHYLUM ACRASIOMYCOTA

(cellular slime molds) Spores develop into independent free-living amoeba-like cells that may come together to form a multicellular structure; this structure forms a fruiting body that produces spores. Example: Dictyostelium.

PHYLUM MYXOMYCOTA

(acellular slime molds) Spores develop into haploid cells that can switch between flagellated and amoeba-like forms; these haploid cells fuse to form a zygote that grows into a plasmodium, which ultimately forms spore-producing fruiting bodies. Example: Physarum.

PHYLUM OOMYCOTA

(water molds) Unicellular or multicellular; mostly aquatic; cell walls contain cellulose. Example: Phytophthora infestans.