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Meteora sporadica

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Species of deep sea protist

Meteora sporadica
Drawing of a Meteora sporadica individual
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Genus: Meteora
Species: M. sporadica
Binomial name
Meteora sporadica
Hausmann, Weitere, Wolf & Arndt 2002

Meteora sporadica is a mysterious free-living protozoan discovered in 2002 during sampling at a depth of 1,230 meters below sea level in the Sporades Basin, part of the Mediterranean Sea. So far it is the only species of the genus Meteora.

It was placed as Protista incertae sedis due to its unique morphology unlike any other group of protists. Two decades later, a 2022 phylogenetic analysis of Meteora still was not able to solidly relate it to any known group of eukaryotes, suggesting that it could be a new high-level eukaryotic group. In 2024 it was revealed to be related to Hemimastigophora.

The cell body is colorless and ovular. It ranges between 3.0 and 4.4 μm in length and 2.0–4.0 μm in width. It has two lateral arm-like appendages and two axial appendages. The lateral appendages move independently of each other in a rowing motion.

References

  1. ^ Hausmann K, Weitere M, Wolf M, Arndt H (2002). "Meteora sporadica gen. nov. et sp. nov. (Protista incertae sedis) – an extraordinary free-living protist from the Mediterranean deep sea". Eur. J. Protistol. 38 (2): 171–177. doi:10.1078/0932-4739-00872.
  2. Galindo, Luis Javier; López-García, Purificación; Moreira, David (2022). "First Molecular Characterization of the Elusive Marine Protist Meteora sporadica". Protist. 173 (4): 125896. doi:10.1016/j.protis.2022.125896. ISSN 1434-4610. PMID 35841658. S2CID 250059723.
  3. Eglit, Yana; Shiratori, Takashi; Jerlström-Hultqvist, Jon; Williamson, Kelsey; Roger, Andrew J.; Ishida, Ken-Ichiro; Simpson, Alastair G.B. (January 2024). "Meteora sporadica, a protist with incredible cell architecture, is related to Hemimastigophora". Current Biology. 34 (2): 451–459.e6. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2023.12.032. PMID 38262350.
Eukaryote classification
Domain
Archaea
Bacteria
Eukaryota
(major groups
Excavata
Diaphoretickes
Hacrobia
Cryptista
Rhizaria
Alveolata
Stramenopiles
Plants
Amorphea
Amoebozoa
Opisthokonta
Animals
Fungi
Mesomycetozoea)
Amorphea
Amoebozoa
   Obazoa   
Opisthokonta
Holomycota
   Holozoa   
Filozoa
Choanozoa
Diaphoretickes
Haptista
    TSAR    
     SAR     
Rhizaria
Alveolata
Myzozoa
Stramenopiles
Bigyra
Gyrista
     CAM     
Pancryptista
Cryptista
Archaeplastida
Viridiplantae
(Plants sensu lato)
Streptophyta
Excavates*
Discoba
Discicristata
Metamonada
Malawimonada
Incertae sedis
Hemimastigophora
Ancyromonadida
CRuMs


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