Euglenid Temporal range:
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Euglena viridis, by Ehrenberg | |
Scientific classification ![]() | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Clade: | Discoba |
Superphylum: | Discicristata |
Phylum: | Euglenozoa |
Class: | Euglenida Butschli 1884, emend. Simpson 1997 |
Major groups | |
Synonyms | |
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Euglenids or euglenoids are one of the best-known groups of flagellates. They are excavate eukaryotes of the phylum Euglenophyta, classified as class Euglenida or Euglenoidea. Euglenids are commonly found in freshwater, especially when it is rich in organic materials, with a few marine and endosymbiotic members. Many euglenids feed by phagocytosis, or strictly by diffusion. A monophyletic group known as Euglenophyceae have chloroplasts and produce their own food through photosynthesis.[3][4][5] This group is known to contain the carbohydrate paramylon.
Euglenids split from other Euglenozoa more than a billion years ago. The plastids in all extant photosynthetic species is the result from secondary endosymbiosis between a phagotrophic eukaryovorous euglenid and a Pyramimonas-related green alga.[6] In January 2024, some fossilized forms of euglenid had been found to be mistakenly classified as Pseudoschizaea shells.[7]