| Ancoracysta | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification 
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Clade: | Diaphoretickes |
| Clade: | Provora |
| Phylum: | Nebulidia |
| Class: | Nebulidea |
| Order: | Nebulidida |
| Family: | Nebulidae |
| Genus: | Ancoracysta |
| Species: | A. twista
|
| Binomial name | |
| Ancoracysta twista Janouškovec, Tikhonenkov, Burki, Howe, Rohwer, Mylnikov & Keeling 2017[1]
| |
Ancoracysta is a genus of eukaryotic microbes containing the species Ancoracysta twista, a predatory protist that appears to be related to Haptista.[1]
Ancoracysta twista was first described in November 2017 in Current Biology. It was found in a sample collected from the surface of a tropical aquarium brain coral. It actively feeds on Procryptobia sorokini, probably immobilising its prey through discharging a previously unknown type of extrusome named an ancoracyst.[1]
Genetic analysis shows that it is not closely related to any known lineage, but it may be most closely related to a grouping of haptophytes and centrohelids (Haptista). It is notable for having a gene-rich mitochondrial genome, the largest known outside the jakobids or Diphylleia rotans. Uniquely, it appears to contain both the nucleus-encoded holocytochrome c synthase system III and the mitochondrion-encoded bacterial cytochrome c maturation system I.[1]
A 2018 study from Cavalier-Smith, Chao & Lewis created a new subphylum and subsequent lower taxonomic ranks for Ancoracysta twista. They also created a new combination for Colponema marisrubri (Mylnikov & Tikhonenkov, 2009), which was shown to be ultrastructurally similar and phylogenetically close to A. twista, thus renaming it A. marisrubri.[2]
A 2022 study placed A. twista in a new supergroup Provora, closely related to other supergroups of Diaphoretickes such as Haptista, but no longer within Haptista.[3]
