| Welcome to Bio*Pedia! Bio*Pedia is a repository of descriptions of organisms and a partner of the Encyclopedia of Life (EOL). Descriptions added to Bio*Pedia will be harvested at regular intervals, and will appear on EOL species pages.1 Want to contribute a text description for an EOL species page now? Here are a few easy steps to get started: - Please register with Bio*Pedia or login if you are already registered (Bio*Pedia has a separate registration system from EOL).
- If you are not registered yet, please fill in all fields in the registration
form. You will receive an e-mail with a registration confirmation link shortly. After you click this link, you can begin contributing to Bio*Pedia and EOL.
- Type the scientific name of the species that you wish to add a description to (without author and year) into the search box, select and jump to the species name, and click on the "Add description" link in the upper left corner of the page. Type your description into the lower (yellow) box, choose the appropriate license, click "Save description", and your description will immediately appear in Bio*Pedia, which means that it is on the way to EOL!1
1Please note that your description will not appear immediately on EOL Species Pages. If submitted descriptions are deemed inappropriate or inaccurate, they may not be included in EOL.
| Alveolates |
|
Description of Alveolates:
Circumscription: A significant group containing many species of algae and protozoa-both free-living and parasitic. Grouping suggested initially by the presence of the alveoli (see synapomorphy). Began to appear in discussions in the early 1980s; the grouping was confirmed by Gajadhar et al. (1991); the colloquial name was formally introduced into the literature by Cavalier-Smith. With three major subsets, the ciliates distinguished by nuclear dimorphism and cilia arranged in kinetics. The dinoflagellates mostly with nuclei with unusual condensed chromosomes, and the apicomplexa - a group dominated by intracellular and extracellular parasites but including the agent for malaria. Structurally very complex. Ultrastructural identity: Mitochondria tubulocristate, cell surface underlain by a system of abutting sacs-the alveoli. Dictyosomes often reduced. Contains several lineages each with discrete ultrastructural identities (i.e., ciliates, apicomplexa, and dinoflagellates). Group has various idiosyncrasies such as eyes, ingestion devices, cytoproct, and extrusomes. Flagella when present (whether as flagella or cilia) typically with at least one cross-striated fibrous root. Synapomorphy: Tubulocristate protists with cortical alveoli (cortical alveoli defined as abutting sacs without attached ribosomes and not contiguous with other membranous systems and that form a continuous layer under the plasma membrane broken only by penetration of ingestion and egestion organelles, extrusomes, etc.). Composition: Includes the Apicomplexa (inclusive of the predatory flagellates Acrocoelus, Colpodella, and the parasitic Perkinsus, which get from one host to another as swimming forms), the ciliates (Ciliophora), and the dinoflagellates. Some consider affinities with one other flagellate, Colponema. However, the identity of this genus and the alveolate nature of the subsurface sacs in this genus still need to be clarified. Haplosporidia also excluded as structural evidence does not support molecular insights of an affinity between these and the alveolates.
|
|
Images of Alveolates from micro*scope
 |
|
|
Classification by 
Cellular life [2]
Eukaryota [1]
 Acantharea [1]
Acritarchs [1]
Alveolates [1]
 Apicomplexa [1]
Chromerida [1]
Ciliophora [3]
Dinoflagellata [1]
 Ellobiopsids [1]
Apusomonads [1]
Breviatea [1]
Centroheliozoa [1]
Cercomonadida [1]
Chitinozoa [1]
Chlorarachniophytes [1]
Copromyxids [1]
Cryptomonads [1]
Desmothoracids [1]
Dimorphids [1]
Ebriids [1]
Euglenozoa [1]
Excavates [1]
Fonticulids [1]
Glaucocystophytes [1]
Granuloreticulosa [1]
Gymnophrea [1]
Gymnosphaerids [1]
Haplosporidia [1]
Haptophytes [1]
Hemimastigophora [1]
Heterolobosea [1]
Kathablepharids [1]
Komokiacea [1]
Mesomycetozoa [1]
Nucleariids [1]
Opisthokonts [1]
Oxymonadida [1]
Pansomonadida
Parabasalids [1]
Paramyxea [1]
Pelobionts and entamoebae
Phaeodarea [1]
Plasmodiophorids [1]
Polycystina [1]
Ramicristates [1]
Residua [1]
Rhodophyta [1]
Schizoclades [1]
Spongomonads [1]
Stephanopogonidae [1]
Stramenopiles [1]
Taxopodids [1]
Telonemidae [1]
Thaumatomonads [1]
Vampyrellids [1]
Viridaeplantae
|
|
|
