Theoxymonads (orOxymonadida) are a group offlagellatedprotists found exclusively in the intestines of animals, mostlytermites and otherwood-eatinginsects. Along with the similarparabasalid flagellates, they harbor thesymbioticbacteria that are responsible for breaking downcellulose. There is no evidence for presence ofmitochondria (not even anaerobic mitochondrion-like organelles likehydrogenosomes ormitosomes) in oxymonads[1] and three species have been shown to completely lack any molecular markers of mitochondria.[2]
Most Oxymonads are around 50 μm in size and have a singlenucleus, associated with fourflagella. Theirbasal bodies give rise to several long sheets ofmicrotubules, which form an organelle called anaxostyle, but different in structure from the axostyles ofparabasalids. The cell may use the axostyle to swim, as the sheets slide past one another and cause it to undulate. An associated fiber called the preaxostyle separates the flagella into two pairs. A few oxymonads have multiple nuclei, flagella, and axostyles.
^Hampl, Vladimir (2016), Archibald, John M.; Simpson, Alastair G.B.; Slamovits, Claudio H.; Margulis, Lynn (eds.),"Preaxostyla",Handbook of the Protists, Cham: Springer International Publishing, pp. 1–36,doi:10.1007/978-3-319-32669-6_8-1,ISBN978-3-319-32669-6, retrieved2024-04-15
^Treitlia, Sebastian C.; Kotykb, Michael; Yubukia, Naoji; Jirounkováa, Eliska; Vlasáková, Jitka; Smejkalováa, Pavla; Sípek, Petr; Cepicka, Ivan; Hampl, Vladimír (2018). "Molecular and Morphological Diversity of the Oxymonad Genera Monocercomonoides and Blattamonas gen. nov".Protist.169 (5):744–783.doi:10.1016/j.protis.2018.06.005.PMID30138782.
