Mantamonads are a group of free-living

heterotrophic A heterotroph (; ) is an organism that cannot produce its own food, instead taking nutrition from other sources of organic carbon, mainly plant or animal matter. In the food chain, heterotrophs are primary, secondary and tertiary consumers, but ...

flagellate A flagellate is a cell or organism with one or more whip-like appendages called flagella. The word ''flagellate'' also describes a particular construction (or level of organization) characteristic of many prokaryotes and eukaryotes and the ...

s that move primarily by gliding on surfaces (rather than swimming). They are classified as one

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

''Mantamonas'' in the monotypic

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 ...

Mantamonadidae,

order Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to: * A socio-political or established or existing order, e.g. World order, Ancien Regime, Pax Britannica * Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood ...

Mantamonadida,

class Class, Classes, or The Class may refer to: Common uses not otherwise categorized * Class (biology), a taxonomic rank * Class (knowledge representation), a collection of individuals or objects * Class (philosophy), an analytical concept used d ...

Glissodiscea and

phylum In biology, a phylum (; : phyla) is a level of classification, or taxonomic rank, that is below Kingdom (biology), kingdom and above Class (biology), class. Traditionally, in botany the term division (taxonomy), division has been used instead ...

Mantamonadea.Guiry, M.D. & Guiry, G.M. 2025. ''AlgaeBase''. World-wide electronic publication, University of Galway. https://www.algaebase.org; searched on 12 June 2025. Previously, they were classified in

Apusozoa The Apusozoa are a paraphyletic phylum of flagellate eukaryotes. They are usually around 5–20 μm in size, and occur in soils and aquatic habitats, where they feed on bacteria. They are grouped together based on the presence of an organic shel ...

as sister of the

Apusomonadida The apusomonads (family Apusomonadidae) are a group of protozoan zooflagellates that glide on surfaces, and mostly consume prokaryotes. They are of particular evolutionary interest because they appear to be the sister group to the Opisthokonts ...

on the basis of

rRNA Ribosomal ribonucleic acid (rRNA) is a type of non-coding RNA which is the primary component of ribosomes, essential to all cells. rRNA is a ribozyme which carries out protein synthesis in ribosomes. Ribosomal RNA is transcribed from ribosomal ...

analyses. However, mantamonads are currently placed in

CRuMs CRuMs is a clade of microbial eukaryotes, whose name is an acronym of the following constituent groups: i) Diphylleids, ii) rigifilids and iii) mantamonads as sister of the Amorphea. A new CRuMs order Glissandrida was proposed in 2025 to pla ...

on the basis of phylogenomic analyses that identify their closest relatives as the

Diphylleida Collodictyonidae (also Diphylleidae) is a group of aquatic, unicellular Eukaryote, eukaryotic organisms with two to four terminal Flagellum, flagella. They feed by phagocytosis, ingesting other unicellular organisms like algae and bacteria. Rec ...

and

Rigifilida Rigifilida is a clade of non-ciliate phagotrophic eukaryotes. It consists of two genera: '' Micronuclearia'' and '' Rigifila''. Characteristics Cells of rigifilids are covered with either a single or a double-layered submembrane pellicular lam ...

Morphology

''Mantamonas'' are

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 ...

protist A protist ( ) or protoctist is any eukaryotic organism that is not an animal, land plant, or fungus. Protists do not form a natural group, or clade, but are a paraphyletic grouping of all descendants of the last eukaryotic common ancest ...

s. Their cells are flattened, relatively plastic and asymmetric. They have one thin

anterior Standard anatomical terms of location are used to describe unambiguously the anatomy of humans and other animals. The terms, typically derived from Latin or Greek roots, describe something in its standard anatomical position. This position pro ...

flagellum and one conspicuous posterior

flagellum A flagellum (; : flagella) (Latin for 'whip' or 'scourge') is a hair-like appendage that protrudes from certain plant and animal sperm cells, from fungal spores ( zoospores), and from a wide range of microorganisms to provide motility. Many pr ...

, on which they glide. The cells have a right hump, likely caused by the

nucleus Nucleus (: nuclei) is a Latin word for the seed inside a fruit. It most often refers to: *Atomic nucleus, the very dense central region of an atom *Cell nucleus, a central organelle of a eukaryotic cell, containing most of the cell's DNA Nucleu ...

, and a blunt projection on the left side. They are typically 2 μm thick, 5 μm long and 5 μm wide, but vary in size and shape depending on their growth phase and the

bacteria Bacteria (; : bacterium) are ubiquitous, mostly free-living organisms often consisting of one Cell (biology), biological cell. They constitute a large domain (biology), domain of Prokaryote, prokaryotic microorganisms. Typically a few micr ...

l density in the

medium Medium may refer to: Aircraft *Medium bomber, a class of warplane * Tecma Medium, a French hang glider design Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''The Medium'' (1921 film), a German silent film * ''The Medium'' (1951 film), a film vers ...

. When wide-shaped, they present lateral "wings" that resemble the fins of a

manta ray Manta rays are large Batoidea, rays belonging to the genus ''Mobula'' (formerly its own genus ''Manta''). The larger species, ''Giant oceanic manta ray, M. birostris'', reaches in width, while the smaller, ''Reef manta ray, M. alfredi'', reac ...

(hence the name ''Mantamonas'').

Ecology

''Mantamonas'' are marine

gliding Gliding is a recreational activity and competitive air sports, air sport in which pilots fly glider aircraft, unpowered aircraft known as Glider (sailplane), gliders or sailplanes using naturally occurring currents of rising air in the atmospher ...

s. '' M. plastica'' was isolated from marine sediments, while '' M. vickermani'' was isolated from marine

lagoon A lagoon is a shallow body of water separated from a larger body of water by a narrow landform, such as reefs, barrier islands, barrier peninsulas, or isthmuses. Lagoons are commonly divided into ''coastal lagoons'' (or ''barrier lagoons'') an ...

sediments. '' M. sphyraenae'' was obtained from the skin surface of a

barracuda A barracuda is a large, predatory, ray-finned, saltwater fish of the genus ''Sphyraena'', the only genus in the family Sphyraenidae, which was named by Constantine Samuel Rafinesque in 1815. It is found in tropical and subtropical oceans worldw ...

, suggesting that it could be an

epizootic In epizoology, an epizootic (or epizoötic, from Greek: ''epi-'' "upon" + ''zoon'' "animal") is a disease event in a nonhuman animal population analogous to an epidemic in humans. An epizootic disease (or ) may occur in a specific locale (an ...

species.

Evolution

When discovered in 2011, a phylogenetic analysis based on 28S and

18S rRNA 18S ribosomal RNA (abbreviated 18S rRNA) is a part of the ribosomal RNA in eukaryotes. It is a component of the Eukaryotic small ribosomal subunit (40S) and the cytosolic homologue of both the 12S rRNA in mitochondria and the 16S rRNA in plas ...

recovered ''Mantamonas'' as a lineage closely related to Planomonadida and

, within the

paraphyletic Paraphyly is a taxonomic term describing a grouping that consists of the grouping's last common ancestor and some but not all of its descendant lineages. The grouping is said to be paraphyletic ''with respect to'' the excluded subgroups. In co ...

. Later in 2018, a

phylogenomic Phylogenomics is the intersection of the fields of evolution and genomics. The term has been used in multiple ways to refer to analysis that involves genome data and evolutionary reconstructions. It is a group of techniques within the larger fields ...

analysis recovered ''Mantamonas'' as the

sister group In phylogenetics, a sister group or sister taxon, also called an adelphotaxon, comprises the closest relative(s) of another given unit in an evolutionary tree. Definition The expression is most easily illustrated by a cladogram: Taxon A and ...

of a clade comprising

Collodictyonidae Collodictyonidae (also Diphylleidae) is a group of aquatic, unicellular eukaryotic organisms with two to four terminal flagella. They feed by phagocytosis, ingesting other unicellular organisms like algae and bacteria Bacteria (; : bac ...

and

. Together, the three groups compose the

clade, which is the sister group to

Amorphea Amorphea is a taxonomic supergroup that includes the basal Amoebozoa and Obazoa. That latter contains the Opisthokonta, which includes the fungi, animals and the choanoflagellates. The taxonomic affinities of the members of this clade were ...

(

Amoebozoa Amoebozoa is a major Taxonomy (biology), taxonomic group containing about 2,400 described species of Amoeba, amoeboid protists, often possessing blunt, fingerlike, Pseudopod#Morphology, lobose pseudopods and tubular mitochondrial cristae. In trad ...

Obazoa Obazoa is a proposed sister clade of Amoebozoa (which together form Amorphea). The term Obazoa is based on the OBA acronym for Opisthokonta, Breviatea, and Apusomonadidae, the group's three constituent clades. Determining the placement of Bre ...

) in a clade known as

Podiata Podiates (Cavalier-Smith, 2012, excl. Ancyromonadida) are a proposed clade containing the Amorphea (incl. Opisthokonta, Amoebozoa, apusomonads and breviates) and the organisms now assigned to the clade CRuMs. Ancyromonadida does not appear ...

Species

There are currently three species of ''Mantamonas''. *'' Mantamonas plastica'' * '' Mantamonas sphyraenae'' * '' Mantamonas vickermani''

References

{{Taxonbar, from1=Q24048470, from2=Q120002015, from3=Q120002005 CRuMs genera