The sarcomonads or class Sarcomonadea are a group of amoeboid biciliate protists in the phylum Cercozoa. They are characterized by a propensity to move through gliding on their posterior cilium or through filopodia, a lack of scales or external theca, a soft cell surface without obvious cortical filamentous or membranous skeleton, two cilia without scales or hairs, tubular mitochondrial cristae, near-spherical extrusomes, and a microbody (probably a peroxisome) attached to the nucleus.

History

In 1993 Cavalier-Smith described the sarcomonads as a subclass known as “Sarcomonadia”, an assemblage of unrelated cercozoans (thaumatomonads, proteomyxids, cercomonads...) and excavates (jakobids), in the now defunct class “Heteromitea”, in the old phylum “Opalozoa”. This subclass was created to lump together protozoa that have an anisokont type of zoospore (i.e. two cilia of different lengths), are non-thecate and have isodiametric extrusomes. Sarcomonadia was composed of three superorders: Phylogenetic analyses published in 1997 showed close relationships between filose and reticulose amoebae and zooflagellates such as the sarcomonads, and they were grouped under the provisional phylum Rhizopoda. In here, the sarcomonads were grouped as the class Sarcomonadea inside the subphylum Monadofilosa, and Sarcomonadea was emended to exclude the proteomyxids and jakobids. Later, in Cavalier-Smith's A revised six-kingdom system of life of 1998, the phylum Cercozoa was created to formally establish this group of protists previously known as Rhizopoda. This discovery put an end to the taxonomical dichotomy between amoebae and flagellates, since they are phylogenetically intermingled in Cercozoa. In 2003 the term Sarcomonadea was emended again to contain only two orders: In 2009 the problematic Heteromitidae were broken apart and rearranged into the second current sarcomonad order Glissomonadida. In 2012 the paracercomonads joined Sarcomonadea, initially as cercomonads and later as the third current sarcomonad order Paracercomonadida. At the same time, the superclass Ventrifilosa was created to comprise Sarcomonadea, Imbricatea and Thecofilosea. That same year, the protist Katabia was added to Sarcomonadea but remained incertae sedis within the group.

Classification

The class Sarcomonadea is most closely related to Imbricatea and Thecofilosea. Together, they form the superclass Ventrifilosa in the phylum Cercozoa. The current classification divides the class into three orders: paracercomonads (subclass Paracercomonada), cercomonads and glissomonads (subclass Pediglissa). Class Sarcomonadea Cavalier-Smith, 1993 stat. nov. 1995 emend. 2018 Subclass Paracercomonada Cavalier-Smith, 2018 Order Paracercomonadida Cavalier-Smith, 2018 Family Paracercomonadidae Cavalier-Smith, 2012 Subclass Pediglissa Cavalier-Smith, 2018 Order Cercomonadida Poche, 1913 emend. Cavalier-Smith Family Cavernomonadidae Cavalier-Smith, 2012 Family Cercomonadidae Saville Kent 1880-1881, emend. Cavalier-Smith Order Glissomonadida Howe et al., 2009 Suborder Allapsina Cavalier-Smith, 2018 Family Allapsidae Howe et al., 2009 Suborder Sandonina Cavalier-Smith, 2018 Family Bodomorphidae Hollande, 1952 Family Sandonidae Howe et al., 2009 Family Proleptomonadidae Howe et al. 2009 Suborder Pansomonadina Vickerman, 2005 stat. nov. Cavalier-Smith, 2018 Family Viridiraptoridae Hess & Melkonian, 2013 Family Agitatidae Cavalier-Smith & Bass, 2009 Family Acinetactidae Stokes, 1886 Family Aurigamonadidae Cavalier-Smith, 2011 Sarcomonadea incertae sedis Family Katabiidae Cavalier-Smith, 2012