Armophorea is a class of ciliates in the subphylum Intramacronucleata.[1][2]
.[3] It was first resolved in 2004[4] and comprises three orders: Metopida, Clevelandellida,[5] and Armophorida.[6] Previously members of this class were thought to be heterotrichs because of similarities in morphology, most notably a characteristic dense arrangement of cilia surrounding their oral structures.[7] However, the development of genetic tools and subsequent incorporation of DNA sequence information has led to major revisions in the evolutionary relationships of many protists, including ciliates.[8] Metopids, clevelandellids, and armophorids were grouped into this class based on similarities in their small subunit rRNA sequences, making them one of two so-called "riboclasses" of ciliates, however, recent analyses suggest that Armophorida may not be related to the other two orders.[9]
^AFFA'A, FELIX-MARIE; HICKEY, DONAL A.; STRUDER-KYPKE, MICHAELA; LYNN, DENIS H. (May 2004). "Phylogenetic Position of Species in the Genera Anoplophrya, Plagiotoma, and Nyctotheroides (Phylum Ciliophora), Endosymbiotic Ciliates of Annelids and Anurans". The Journal of Eukaryotic Microbiology. 51 (3): 301–306. doi:10.1111/j.1550-7408.2004.tb00570.x. ISSN1066-5234. PMID15218698. S2CID34941205.
^De Puytorac, P; Grain, J (1976). "Ultrastructure du cortex buccal et évolution chez les ciliés". Protistologica. 12: 49–67.
^Jankowski, AW (1964). "Morphology and evolution of Ciliophora. III. Diagnoses and phylogenesis of 53 sapropelobionts, mainly of the order Heterotrichida". Protist. 107: 185–294.
^Lynn, Denis H.. (2008). The Ciliated Protozoa : Characterization, Classification, and Guide to the Literature. Springer Science + Business Media B.V. ISBN9781402082399. OCLC758317642.
^Li, Song; Bourland, William A.; Al-Farraj, Saleh A.; Li, Lifang; Hu, Xiaozhong (October 2017). "Description of two species of caenomorphid ciliates (Ciliophora, Armophorea): Morphology and molecular phylogeny". European Journal of Protistology. 61 (Pt A): 29–40. doi:10.1016/j.ejop.2017.08.001. PMID28843744.