Protista

The Kingdom Protista (one of the five kingdoms in Linnaean Taxonomy) includes all the Eukaryotes except for the Plantae, Fungi, and Animalia. A few forms are multicellular, ie the Phaeophyta (brown algae) and Rhodophyta (red algae). The vast majority, though, are single-celled and are typically only 0.01-0.5 mm in size, too small to be seen without a microscope. Protists are ubiquitous throughout aqueous environments and the soil, commonly surviving dry periods in the form of cysts; a few are important parasites.

Traditionally protists have been divided into plant-like forms that have chloroplasts, the Algae, fungus-like forms, the Slime molds and Oomycota, and animal-like forms, the protozoa. The last are generally divided on the basis of morphology and locomotion into flagellates, amoeboids, sporozoans, and ciliates. Except for the last these are all polyphyletic and frequently overlap.

More recently protists have been divided into more genuine groups on the basis of ultrastructural and chemical features. Aside from basal forms, these can be assorted into a few broad categories on the basis of the the form of the mitochondria and in particular the cristae within them.

Contains the Phyla :

Phylum Caryoblastea

Phylum Dinoflagellata

Phylum Rhizopoda

Phylum Chrysophyta

Phylum Haptophyta

Phylum Euglenophyta

Phylum Cryptophyta

Phylum Zoomastigina

Phylum Xanthophyta

Phylum Eustigmatophyta

Phylum Bacillariophyta

Phylum Phaeophyta

Phylum Rhodophyta

Phylum Gamophyta

Phylum Chlorophyta

Phylum Actinopoda

Phylum Foraminifera

Phylum Ciliophora

Phylum Apicomplexa

Phylum Cnidosporidia

Phylum Labyrinthulomycota

Phylum Acrasiomycota

Phylum Myxomycota

Phylum Plasmodiophoromycota

Phylum Hyphochytridiomycota

Phylum Chytridiomycota

Phylum Oomycota