Symbiotic and kleptoplastic organisms excluded:
*The glaucophytes and the red and green algae—clade Archaeplastida (uni- and multicellular)
*The cryptophytes—clade Cryptista (unicellular)
*The haptophytes—clade Haptista (unicellular)
*The dinoflagellates and chromerids in the superphylum Myzozoa, and Pseudoblepharisma in the phylum Ciliophora—clade Alveolata (unicellular)
*The ochrophytes—clade Stramenopila (uni- and multicellular)
*The chlorarachniophytes and three species of Paulinella in the phylum Cercozoa—clade Rhizaria (unicellular)
*The euglenids—clade Excavata (unicellular)
Except for the euglenids, which are found within the Excavata, all of these belong to the Diaphoretickes. Archaeplastida and the photosynthetic Paulinella got their plastids, which are surrounded by two membranes, through primary endosymbiosis in two separate events, by engulfing a cyanobacterium. The plastids in all the other groups have either a red or green algal origin, and are referred to as the "red lineages" and the "green lineages". The only known exception is the ciliate Pseudoblepharisma tenue, which in addition to its plastids that originated from green algae also has a purple sulfur bacterium as symbiont. In dinoflagellates and euglenids the plastids are surrounded by three membranes, and in the remaining lines by four. A nucleomorph, remnants of the original algal nucleus located between the inner and outer membranes of the plastid, is present in the cryptophytes (from a red alga) and chlorarachniophytes (from a green alga).
Some dinoflagellates that lost their photosynthetic ability later regained it again through new endosymbiotic events with different algae.
While able to perform photosynthesis, many of these eukaryotic groups are mixotrophs and practice heterotrophy to various degrees.