General Characteristics:
1. Chromatophores absent.
2. Nutrition holozoic, saprophytic r parasitic.
3. Flagella one or many.
4. Reserve food glycogen, never starch or other amyloid substances.
5. Sexual reproduction 9syngamy0 rare.
6. Free living or parasitic.
There are the following orders belong to this class:
Rhizomastigida:
1. Small permanently amoeboid, connecting sarcodina and mastigophora.
2. Flagella 1 to 4 or more pseudopodia varying in number.
Choanoflagellida
1. Free-living colonial flagellates.
2. A delicate collar surrounds the base 1st flagellum
Kinetopastida
1. Small, more or less amoeboid, with a thin pellicle.
2. Flagella 1 or 2, pseudopodia 1 to 4.
3. Mouth absent.
4. Kinetplast present may be secondarily lost.
5. Free living or parasitic.
Diplomonadida
1. Small, bilaterally symmetrical with a delicate pellicle.
2. Flagella 4 pairs.
3. Duplicated organelles.
4. Mostly parasitic.
5. Trichomonadids:
6. Minute plastic forms with a delicate pellicle.
7. Flagella 4 to 6,often with axial rods. One turned to back and often associated with an undulating membrane.
8. Cytostome usually present.
9. Nuclei one to many; one parabasal body and 1 axostyle.
10. Parasitic in reproductive passages of man and other vertebrates.
Hypermastigida:
1. Highly specialized flagellates.
2. Flagella and parabasal bodies are numerous.
3. Mouth absent, food ingested by pseudopodia.
4. Single nucleus present.
5. Wood eating gut parasites or symbionts of insects.
1. Chromatophores absent.
2. Nutrition holozoic, saprophytic r parasitic.
3. Flagella one or many.
4. Reserve food glycogen, never starch or other amyloid substances.
5. Sexual reproduction 9syngamy0 rare.
6. Free living or parasitic.
There are the following orders belong to this class:
Rhizomastigida:
1. Small permanently amoeboid, connecting sarcodina and mastigophora.
2. Flagella 1 to 4 or more pseudopodia varying in number.
Choanoflagellida
1. Free-living colonial flagellates.
2. A delicate collar surrounds the base 1st flagellum
Kinetopastida
1. Small, more or less amoeboid, with a thin pellicle.
2. Flagella 1 or 2, pseudopodia 1 to 4.
3. Mouth absent.
4. Kinetplast present may be secondarily lost.
5. Free living or parasitic.
Diplomonadida
1. Small, bilaterally symmetrical with a delicate pellicle.
2. Flagella 4 pairs.
3. Duplicated organelles.
4. Mostly parasitic.
5. Trichomonadids:
6. Minute plastic forms with a delicate pellicle.
7. Flagella 4 to 6,often with axial rods. One turned to back and often associated with an undulating membrane.
8. Cytostome usually present.
9. Nuclei one to many; one parabasal body and 1 axostyle.
10. Parasitic in reproductive passages of man and other vertebrates.
Hypermastigida:
1. Highly specialized flagellates.
2. Flagella and parabasal bodies are numerous.
3. Mouth absent, food ingested by pseudopodia.
4. Single nucleus present.
5. Wood eating gut parasites or symbionts of insects.
