Blepharismidae is a

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

unicellular A unicellular organism, also known as a single-celled organism, is an organism that consists of a single cell, unlike a multicellular organism that consists of multiple cells. Organisms fall into two general categories: prokaryotic organisms and ...

ciliate The ciliates are a group of alveolates characterized by the presence of hair-like organelles called cilia, which are identical in structure to flagellum, eukaryotic flagella, but are in general shorter and present in much larger numbers, with a ...

protists A protist ( ) or protoctist is any Eukaryote, eukaryotic organism that is not an animal, Embryophyte, land plant, or fungus. Protists do not form a Clade, natural group, or clade, but are a Paraphyly, paraphyletic grouping of all descendants o ...

found in fresh and salt water. Two genera are recognized: '' Blepharisma'', which contains some model organisms, and ''

Pseudoblepharisma ''Pseudoblepharisma'' is a genus of heterotrich ciliates inhabiting oxygen depleted freshwater habitats. Most sources report that it contains one species, ''Pseudoblepharisma tenue'', but at least four have been seen in literature. ''Pseudobleph ...

'' (

monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unisp ...

in most sources) '' Parablepharisma'' was part of the family, but more careful inspection (morphological and molecular) has placed it in a separate class distinct from the

heterotrich The heterotrichs are a class of ciliates. They typically have a prominent adoral zone of membranelles circling the mouth, used in locomotion and feeding, and shorter cilia on the rest of the body. Many species are highly contractile, and are ...

s. Acquisition of ribosomal sequences from ''Pseudoblepharisma'' in 2021 and 2022 also produces phylogenetic results incongruent with current taxonomy, instead placing the genus sister to ''

Spirostomum ''Spirostomum'' is a genus of ciliated protists in the class Heterotrichea. It is known for being very contractile.Fernandes, N.M.; da Silva Neto, I.D. (2013). “Morphology and 18S rDNA gene sequence of ''Spirostomum minus'' and ''Spirostomum te ...

''.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q18670525 Heterotrichea Taxa described in 1985 Ciliate families