Arachnula | |
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Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Clade: | Diaphoretickes |
Clade: | SAR |
Phylum: | Endomyxa |
Class: | Vampyrellidea |
Order: | Vampyrellida |
Family: | Vampyrellidae |
Genus: | Arachnula Cienkowsky, 1876[1] |
Arachnula is a genus of amoeboid eukaryotes first described by Leon Cienkowski in 1876.[2]
Its phylogenetic position is a subject of some controversy. David Bass and colleagues considered it to be a vampyrellid within the Endomyxa clade of Rhizaria,[3] and the SSU rDNA sequence isolated from an organism described as Arachnula impatiens is indeed very close to that of the vampyrellid Theratromyxa.[4] The identification of this organism as Arachnula has, however, been questioned; and a separate amoeba identified as Arachnula by Yonas Isaak Tekle and colleagues groups in molecular phylogenies close to the amoebozoans Filamoeba and Flamella.[5] Which of these isolates corresponds to that originally described by Cienkowski is unresolved.