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Opaline



Opalines
Scientific classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Chromalveolata
Division: Heterokontophyta
Class: Opalinea
Genera

Opalina
Protoopalina
Zelleriella
Protozelleriella
Cepedea

The opalines are a small group of peculiar protists, found as endosymbionts in the gut of frogs and toads. Each cell has two or more nuclei (hundreds in some species), and is covered in short flagella, arranged in rows. As such, they somewhat resemble ciliates, but opalines have only one sort of nucleus, lack mouths, and divide longitudinally (between flagellar rows). Opalina and Protoopalina are the best known genera.

Opalines were at one point considered possible ancestors of the ciliates, but the similarity between the two appears to be convergent evolution. They are now considered close relatives of the proteromonad flagellates, and the two are included among the heterokonts, though opalines may lack the tripartite hairs that are characteristic of that group.

 
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Opaline". A list of authors is available in Wikipedia.
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