Description of Oxymonadida
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Circumscription: Mostly flagellates, all known species are commensals usually in intestines of termites, typically with four flagella in two pairs, and basal bodies giving rise to an organelle, the axostyle, which may be able to undulate. Ultrastructural identity: No mitochondria, four basal bodies arranged in two separated pairs and giving rise to several major microtubular roots, some with associated nonmicrotubular roots. Axostyle, comprised of parallel sheets of microtubules, which in some species slide relative to each other and may have associated additional material. No extrusomes nor dictyosomes, cell surface naked. Synapomorphy: Amitochondriate protists with axostyle constituted of multiple sheets of microtubules.
