metopus palaeformides metopus palaeformides metopus palaeformides is a species of metopid first found in soil from the murray river floodplain, australia. it closely resembles heterometopus palaeformis, but can be distinguished from its cogenerate species by the size of its body, number of adoral polykinetids and its oral area pattern. metopus palaeformides scientific classification domain: eukaryota (unranked): sar (unranked): alveolata phylum: ciliophora subphylum: intramacronucleata order: armophorida family: metopidae genus: metopus species: m. palaeformides binomial name metopus palaeformidesvďačný & foissner, 2016