Eukaryote taxa

A bikont ("two flagella") is any of the eukaryotic organisms classified in the group Bikonta. Many single-celled and multi-celled organisms are members of the group, and these, as well as the presumed ancestor, have two flagella.

Diaphoretickes () is a major evolutionary lineage, or clade, of eukaryotic organisms spanning over 600,000 species. They comprise an enormous diversity of life forms, from single-celled protozoa to multicellular plants and numerous types of algae. The clade was discovered through phylogenetic analyses in the 21st century that revealed a close relationship between the supergroups Archaeplastida (or plants in a broad sense), Haptista, Cryptista, and SAR (Stramenopiles, Alveolata and Rhizaria).

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 originally described and proposed by Thomas Cavalier-Smith in 2002.

CRuMs is a clade of microbial eukaryotes, whose name is an acronym of the following constituent groups: Diphylleids, rigifilids, and mantamonads as sister of the Amorphea. A new CRuMs order Glissandrida was proposed in 2025 to place the yet unclassified genus Glissandra. It more or less supersedes Varisulca, as Ancyromonadida are inferred not to be specifically related to the orders Diphylleida / Collodictyonida, Rigifilida and Mantamonadida.

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 to have emerged in this grouping. Podiates possess pseudopodia (ancestrally filose and used for benthic feeding), while the closely related ancyromonads and malawimonads do not.

taxon of Diaphoretickes

taxonomic rank

The Scotokaryotes is a proposed basal eukaryote clade sister to Diaphoretickes. Likely Scotokaryote groupings include the Metamonads, the Malawimonas and the Podiata. The name comes from the Greek word scotos (dark) due to the complete absence of photosynthetic organisms in this clade, contrasting with Diaphoretickes and Excavata.

thumb|300px|Evolution of the algae, as depicted by Thomas Cavalier-Smith in 2002. Neither the tree's structure nor some of the terms in the diagram reflect a modern consensus.

The neokaryotes (Cavalier-Smith 1993) are a proposed eukaryote clade consisting of the unikonts and the bikonts as sister of for instance the Jakobea. It arises because the Euglenozoa, Percolozoa, Tsukubea, and Jakobea are seen in this view as more basal eukaryotes. These four groups, are traditionally grouped together in the Discoba. However, the Discoba may well be paraphyletic as the neokaryotes may have emerged in them.