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Cryptofilida

Order of protists

Cryptofilida (from Latin crypto 'hidden' and fila 'threads') is an order of small heterotrophic protists in the phylum Cercozoa. They are filose amoebae that lack cilia and gliding, and are instead characterized by movement through branching or unbranched granular filopodia that are appressed to the substrate during their feeding.

In studies on the impact of conventional soil management, Cryptofilida were identified as ecological indicators.

01Phylogeny and taxonomy

Phylogeny

Cryptofilida is an order inside Granofilosea, and is phylogenetically related to Limnofilida, a group with similar amoeboid protists. However, the exact relationships between the granofilosean clades are still unresolved. Two outcomes are shown here from the 2009 analysis that identified the group for the first time:

Granofilosea

Novel Clade Gran-2

Novel Clade Gran-3

Leucodictyida

Mesofilidae

Mesofila

Nanofilidae

Nanofila

Novel Clade Gran-1

Novel Clade Gran-6

Limnofilida

Limnofilidae

Granofilosea

Novel Clade Gran-2

Novel Clade Gran-3

Nanofilidae

Nanofila

Novel Clade Gran-1

Novel Clade Gran-6

Mesofilidae

Mesofila

Novel Clade Gran-5

A more recent analysis shows this result:

Granofilosea

Novel Clade Gran-5

Desmothoracida

Novel Clade Gran-4

Novel Clade Gran-2

Novel Clade Gran-3

Novel Clade Gran-1

Nanofilidae

Nanofila

Novel Clade Gran-6

Mesofilidae

Mesofila

Leucodictyida
Limnofilida

Limnofilidae

Taxonomy

The order contains two families with one species each.

Watch videos about CryptofilidaExplainers and documentaries on YouTube (opens in a new tab)

Sources and credits

This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article Cryptofilida, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.

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