An amoeboflagellate (pl. amoeboflagellates) is any eukaryotic organism capable of behaving as an amoeba and as a flagellate at some point during their life cycle. Amoeboflagellates present both pseudopodia and at least one flagellum, often simultaneously.[1][2]
Occurrence
The amoeboflagellate cell type has been acquired numerous independent times across the evolution of protists (i.e. primarily unicellulareukaryotes that are not plants, fungi or animals).[3] Some examples of protist phyla with amoeboflagellate body types are:
Amoebozoa contains several groups of amoeboflagellates with one[7] or two flagella[8] and lobose pseudopods, which are rounder and more blunt-ended than filopodia. Among them are the myxogastrids, a group of slime molds that behave as amoeboflagellates in various stages of their life cycle.[9] Many species of Archamoebae, a more basal group, are anaerobic amoeboflagellates.[10] Other examples are the dictyostelians, another group of slime molds,[11] and the closely related varioseans, such as Phalansterium.[7]
Percolozoa contains amoeboflagellates with lobose pseudopods, but are differentiated by their flat mitochondrial cristae, not tubular as in Amoebozoa.[7][15] A popular example is the genus Naegleria, whose members can change shape between an amoeba and a flagellate.[1]
^This class belongs to a paraphyletic phylum that is in disuse, known as Apusozoa.[12] Although not a phylum itself, it is listed here with other phyla due to comprising an independent clade of organisms.
^Irina A. Milyutina; Vladimir V. Aleshin; Kirill A. Mikrjukov; OIga S. Kedrova; Nikolai B. Petrov (1 July 2001). "The unusually long small subunit ribosomal RNA gene found in amitochondriate amoeboflagellate Pelomyxa palustris: its rRNA predicted secondary structure and phylogenetic implication". Gene. 272 (1–2): 131–139. doi:10.1016/S0378-1119(01)00556-X. ISSN0378-1119. PMID11470518. WikidataQ48352141.