Question

What are the characteristic features of Euglenoids?

Answer 1

There is a diversity of organisms on this earth. They all have different and specific characteristics. The simplest of them is the single-celled protists. They have a large variety of organisms in this group. They are the primitive type of creatures.

Complete answer:
Euglenoids are the Protists in the algal category. Euglena belongs to the Euglenoids group. There are approximately 600 species known of euglenoids. This makes a large group of Protists. They are the elongated cells with one nucleus.
Euglenoids have certain features like-
- They are the unicellular protists.
- They are found in the freshwater.
- They have a pellicle present- which is a protein-rich membrane.
- They lack a cell wall.
- They have two flagella on the anterior of the body.
- They can prepare their food by photosynthetic pigments called chloroplasts.
- In the absence of light, they acquire food as heterotrophs. They will then feed on other organisms for feed.
- They are the connecting bridge between the plants and animals as they have featured both like plants and animals.
- They have a contractile vacuole to regulate the fluid in the cytoplasm.
- They are usually red due to the presence of carotenoids.
- They attack their food and eat via phagocytosis in which the entrapment of food takes place by an outer membrane.
- They reproduce by longitudinal cell division, a form of asexual reproduction mode.
- They generate cyst which can withstand the drying period.

Note:
Euglena has environmental importance in the aspect that it needs carbon dioxide for photosynthesis, so it will provide us with oxygen to breathe. They are both good and bad for humans. There also exist toxic euglena. They have evolved.