Cryptista is a clade of alga-like eukaryotes. It is most likely related to Archaeplastida which includes plants and many algae, within the larger group Diaphoretickes.[2]
Although it has sometimes placed along with Haptista in the group Hacrobia, within the kingdom Chromista,[3] most recent studies have found that Hacrobia is not a clade.[4] For example, in 2016, a broad phylogenomic study found that cryptists fall within the group Archaeplastida, while haptophytes are closely related to the SAR supergroup.[5][6]
^Burki F; Kaplan M; Tikhonenkov DV; Zlatogursky V; Minh BQ; Radaykina LV; Smirnov A; Mylnikov AP; Keeling PJ (2016), "Untangling the early diversification of eukaryotes: a phylogenomic study of the evolutionary origins of Centrohelida, Haptophyta and Cryptista.", Proc Biol Sci, 283 (1823): 20152802, doi:10.1098/rspb.2015.2802, PMC4795036, PMID26817772
^Cavalier-Smith; Chao; Lewis (2015), "Multiple origins of Heliozoa from flagellate ancestors: New cryptist subphylum Corbihelia, superclass Corbistoma, and monophyly of Haptista, Cryptista, Hacrobia and Chromista", Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 93: 331–362, doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2015.07.004, PMID26234272
^Tedersoo, Leho (2017), "Proposal for practical multi-kingdom classification of eukaryotes based on monophyly and comparable divergence time criteria", bioRxiv, 2017, doi:10.1101/240929, S2CID90691603