opalozoa opalozoa opalozoa is a subphylum of heterotrophic protists of the phylum bigyra, and is the sister group to sagenista. opalozoans are non-photosynthetic heterokonts that are ancestrally phagotrophic but many times have evolved to be osmotrophic saprotrophs in the gut of vertebrate animals. opalozoa opalina ranarum, an opalozoan scientific classification domain: eukaryota clade: diaphoretickes clade: sar clade: stramenopiles phylum: bigyra subphylum: opalozoacavalier-smith, 1991 stat. nov. 2006 infraphyla and classes ?pendulomonas ?bordnamonadidae bikosia bikosea placidozoa wobblata placididea nanomonadea opalomonadea opalinata opalinea blastocystea taxonomy history: phylum opalozoa in 1993 the name “opalozoa” referred to a group of protists that was very different from what it is now. it was a phylum composed of many unrelated zooflagellates, grouped together because of the common presence of tubular mitochondrial cristae and the lack of cortical alveoli or rigid tubular ciliary hairs (retronemes). it also included the opalinids, proteomyxids and plasmodiophorids. cavalier-smith's defunct phylum opalozoa (1993) subphylum proterozoa class heteromitea subclass sarcomonadia superorder jakobidea order jakobida order cercomonadida superorder thaumatomonadidea order thaumatomonadida superorder proteomyxidea order pseudosporida order leucodictyida subclass thecomonadia order apusomonadida order cryomonadida subclass anisomonadia order diphylleida order proteromonadida class phytomyxea order phagomyxida order plasmodiophorida class telonemea order telonemida order nephromycida class cyathobodonea order pseudodendromonadida order spongomonadida order kathablepharida class ebridea order ebriida subphylum opalinata class opalinea order karotomorphida order opalinida subphylum kinetomonada class kinetomonadea order histionida order heliomonadida subphylum hemimastigophora class hemimastigea order hemimastigida modern classification the modern taxonomy of opalozoa, down to order level, is as follows: subphylum opalozoa cavalier-smith, 1991 stat. nov. 2006 emend. 2018 infraphylum bikosia cavalier-smith, 2013 class bikosea cavalier-smith nom. n. pro bicosoecea cavalier-smith, 1986 subclass bicosidia cavalier-smith, 2006 orth. emend. superorder cyathobodoniae cavalier-smith, 1993 emend. stat. nov. 2006 order bicoecida grassé, 1926 order anoecida cavalier-smith, 1997 emend. 2006 order pseudodendromonadida hibberd, 1985 emend. cavalier-smith, 2006 superorder borokiae cavalier-smith, 2006 order borokida cavalier-smith, 2006 subclass rictidia cavalier-smith, 2013 order rictida cavalier-smith, 2013 infraphylum placidozoa cavalier-smith, 2013 superclass wobblata cavalier-smith, 2006 stat. nov. 2013 class placididea moriya, nakayama & inouye, 2002 order placidida moriya, nakayama & inouye, 2002 class nanomonadea cavalier-smith, 2013 order uniciliatida cavalier-smith, 2013 class opalomonadea cavalier-smith, 2013 superclass opalinata wenyon, 1926 emend. cavalier-smith, 1996 stat. nov. 2006 class opalinea wenyon, 1926 stat. nov. cavalier-smith, 1993 emend. 2013 order proteromonadida grassé, 1952 emend. cavalier-smith, 1993 order opalinida poche, 1913 stat. nov. hall, 1953 emend. cavalier-smith class blastocystea zierdt et al., 1967 order blastocystida zierdt, 1978 opalozoa incertae sedis: pendulomonas tong, 1977 bordnamonadidae cavalier-smith, 2013 phylogeny the cladogram below shows the internal relationships of opalozoa. opalozoa placidozoa opalinata opalinea blastocystea opalomonadea nanomonadea placididea bikosea pseudodendromonadida bicoecida anoecida borokida rictida "wobblata"