Encyclopedia > Opaline

  Article Content

Opaline

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, 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 Protopalina 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 stramenopiles, though opalines may lack the tripartite hairs that are characteristic of that group.



All Wikipedia text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License

 
  Search Encyclopedia

Search over one million articles, find something about almost anything!
 
 
  
  Featured Article
Mayenne

...     Contents Mayenne Mayenne is a French département, number 53, named after the Mayenne River[?]. Préfecture (capital): ...

 
 
 
This page was created in 23 ms