Phylum HETEROLOBOSEA Page & Blanton, 1985

Museums

Regional Maps

• Heterolobosea Page, F.C. & Blanton, R.L. 1985. The Heterolobosea (Sarcodina: Rhizopoda), a new class uniting the Schizopyrenida and the Acrasidae (Acrasida). Protistologica 21: 121-132.
• Percolozoa Cavalier-Smith, T. 1991. Cell diversification in heterotrophic flagellates. pp. 113–131 in Patterson, D.J. & Larsen, J. The Biology of Free-living Heterotrophic Flagellates. Oxford University Press.

Taxonomic Decision for Synonymy

• Nikolaev, S.I., Mylnikov, A.P., Berney, C., Fahrni, J., Pawlowski, J., Aleshin, V.V., Petrov, N.B. 2004. Molecular phylogenetic analysis places Percolomonas cosmopolitus within Heterolobosea: evolutionary implications. Journal of Eukaryotic Microbiology 51: 575-581

Introduction

This taxon (usually ranked as phylum or class) contains amoebae that have been shown to have an alternate flagellated stage in their developmental cycle, although molecular phylogenetic studies have included some that lack either an amoeboid or a flagellated stage. Most are found as bactivores in soil, water or faeces. They were traditionally considered to be lobose amoebae, but they do not form true lobopodia and they move using eruptive pseudopodia. They have been classified alongside the euglenozoans in the group Discicristata in the supergroup Excavata. Heteroloboseans include acrasid mycetozoans (slime moulds) that form fruiting bodies and vahlkampfiid amoebae (schizopyrenids) that do not form fruiting bodies. For taxonomic considerations and characters, see Adl et al. (2012).

Diagnosis

Protists with diverse life cycles, including amoeboflagellates, permanently flagellate species and amoebae lacking flagellate stages. When present, amoebae and amoeboflagellates are similar in form, being limax in shape with eruptive pseudopodia. Cysts may occur singly or as relatively simple clusters ('fruiting bodies'), when the species have been treated as cellular slime moulds. United by ultrastructural features: nuclear division promitotic (intranuclear mitosis with persistent nucleoli and endonuclear division spindle), mitochondria with discoid christae, rough endoplasmic reticulum surrounding a mitochondrion forming a complex, no recognisable stacked Golgi bodies. Monophyletic by ribosomal gene sequences.

General References

Adl, S.M., Simpson, A.G.B., Lane, C.E., Lukes, J., Bass, D., Bowser, S.S., Brown, M.W., Burki, F., Dunthorn, M., Hampl, V., Heiss, A., Hoppenrath, M., Lara, E., Le Gall, L., Lynn, D.H., McManus, H., Mitchell, E.A.D., Mozley-Stanridge, S.E., Parfrey, L.W., Pawlowski, J., Rueckert, S., Shadwick, L., Schoch, C.L., Smirnov, A. & Spiegel, F.W. 2012. The revised classification of eukaryotes. Journal of Eukaryotic Microbiology 59: 429-493

History of changes