''Telonema'' is a

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 ...

of single-celled organisms. Some sources group ''Telonema'' within the

cryptomonads-haptophytes assemblage The cryptomonads-haptophytes assemblage is a proposed but disputed monophyletic grouping of unicellular eukaryotes that are not included in the SAR supergroup. Several alternative names have been used for the group, including Hacrobia (derived ...

. It is sometimes assigned to a unique phylum,

Telonemia Telonemia is a phylum of microscopic eukaryotes commonly known as telonemids. They are unicellular free-living flagellates with a unique combination of Cell (biology), cell structures, including a highly complex cytoskeleton unseen in other eu ...

. Although Telonema is within the Eukaryota Domain, it does not have any close relations to other organisms within that domain. However, it was once thought Telonema was closely related to photosynthetic cryptomonads, or stramenopiles and centrohelids, but there was not enough data to prove this. After a study of 127 genes across 72

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

, they found that ''Telonema subtile'' could be related to Alveolata and Rhizaria.

Species

Two species are recognized by AlgaeBase as of 2013, '' Telonema subtile'' and '' T. antarcticum''. The latter was described in 2005. Other sources call the former ''Telonema subtilis''.

References

Hacrobia Protist genera {{hacrobia-stub