| Plagiopylida | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification 
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Clade: | Diaphoretickes |
| Clade: | SAR |
| Clade: | Alveolata |
| Phylum: | Ciliophora |
| Subphylum: | Intramacronucleata |
| Class: | Plagiopylea Small & Lynn, 1985 |
| Order: | Plagiopylida Jankowski, 1978[1] |
| Typical families | |
| |
The plagiopylids are a small order of ciliates, including a few forms common in anaerobic habitats.
The body cilia are dense, and arise from monokinetids with an entirely unique ultrastructure; one or two rows of dikinetids run into the oral cavity, which takes the form of a groove, with a deep tube lined by oral cilia leading to the mouth. The order was introduced by Eugen Small and Denis Lynn in 1985, who treated it as a subclass of Oligohymenophorea. Since then they tend to be treated as an independent class, possibly affiliated with the Colpodea. Class Plagiopylea is divided into two clades:[2] one contains members of the order Plagiopylida (like Plagiopyla frontata and Trimyema compressum) and the second clade contains plagiopylean ciliate associated with denitrifying obligate endosymbiont Candidatus Azoamicus ciliaticola.[3]