Anamoeboflagellate (pl.amoeboflagellates) is anyeukaryotic organism capable of behaving as anamoeba and as aflagellate at some point during their life cycle. Amoeboflagellates present bothpseudopodia and at least oneflagellum, often simultaneously.^[1][2]

The amoeboflagellatecell type has been acquired numerous independent times across the evolution ofprotists (i.e. primarilyunicellulareukaryotes that are notplants,fungi oranimals).^[3] Some examples of protistphyla with amoeboflagellate body types are:

• Cercozoa contains various examples of amoeboflagellates withfilose pseudopods, thread-like cell projections also known asfilopodia. Thecercomonads,glissomonads andparacercomonads behave as amoeboflagellates with twoflagella throughout the majority of theirlife cycle,^[2][4] and are essential predators of thesoil microbiome.^[5] Among the more basal Cercozoa isReticulamoeba, an amoeboflagellate with reticulose pseudopods (reticulopodia), filopodia that join into a net-like structure.^[6]

• Amoebozoa contains several groups of amoeboflagellates with one^[7] or two flagella^[8] andlobose pseudopods, which are rounder and more blunt-ended than filopodia. Among them are themyxogastrids, a group ofslime molds that behave as amoeboflagellates in various stages of their life cycle.^[9] Many species ofArchamoebae, a more basal group, areanaerobic amoeboflagellates.^[10] Other examples are thedictyostelians, another group of slime molds,^[11] and the closely relatedvarioseans, such asPhalansterium.^[7]

• Breviatea, a smallclass^[a] related toanimals,fungi and amoebozoans, is composed ofanaerobic amoeboflagellates with two flagella.^[13][14]

• Percolozoa contains amoeboflagellates with lobose pseudopods, but are differentiated by their flatmitochondrial cristae, not tubular as in Amoebozoa.^[7][15] A popular example is the genusNaegleria, whose members can change shape between an amoeba and a flagellate.^[1]

The amoeboflagellatephenotype is present in numerous protists that have a crucialphylogenetic position near the origin ofanimals andfungi, within the vast clade known asOpisthokonta. It has been described inchoanoflagellates such asSalpingoeca,filastereans such asPigoraptor, and even some early-branching fungi such asSanchytrium,^[16] but it is absent in animals.^[3] The two species ofPluriformea have a wide range of cell types, from cellular aggregations to amoeboflagellates.^[17]

• Motile cells
• Cell biology
• Amoeboids
• Flagellates
• Microbiology

• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata