Alveolate genera

Parvilucifera is a genus of marine alveolates that behave as endoparasites of dinoflagellates. It was described in 1999 by biologists Fredrik Norén and Øjvind Moestrup, who identified the genus among collections of Dinophysis dinoflagellates off the coast of Sweden. Initially mistaken for products of sexual reproduction, the round bodies found within these collections were eventually recognized as sporangia, spherical structures that generate zoospores of a parasitic protist. This organism was later identified as P. infectans, the type species. The examination of this organism and its close ge

Colpodella is a genus of alveolates comprising five species, and two further possible species: They share all the synapomorphies of apicomplexans, but are free-living, rather than parasitic. There have also been cases of pathogenic Colpodella infection in a few different species, including humans. Many members of this genus were previously assigned to a different genus - Spiromonas.