Protist

From Palaeos

Arch.Paleopr Mesopr  Neoproterozoic Phanerozoic

o LUCA
`--o Eukarya
   |--Metamonada ------------------------------
   `--+--Discicristata ------------------------
      `--+--Rhizaria --------------------------
         `--o Metabionta
            |--+--o Chromalveolata:
            |  |  |--Alveolata ----------------
            |  |  `--Chromista ----------------
            |  `--o Archaeplastida 
            |     |--Rhodophyta ---------------
            |     `--Chlorobionta  ------------
            `----------+--Amoebozoa  ----------
                       `--o Opisthokonta 
                             |--Fungi ---------
                             `--Metazoa -------

Protist is a collective name for any eukaryote not belonging to the major multicellular clades of animals, land plants or (usually) fungi, and often treated as a formal paraphyletic kingdom Protista. Though protists are often described as "unicellular eukaryotes", some protists (such as many algae) are multicellular. Some authors have suggested use of the terms "Protoctista" and "protoctist" rather than "protist" to remove the assumption of unicellularity. "Protist" is also often used interchangeably with "protozoan", though generally Protozoa are a smaller subgroup of heterotrophic protists. Attempts have been made to distingush between Protozoa ("first animals"), Protophyta ("first plants") and Protomycota ("first fungi") based mostly on nutritive modes, but the resulting frameworks have been entirely artificial.

Credits

CKT061110