Biology / Unit 9 Bio 1995 short lesson, about 20 seconds
The Five-Supergroup Classification Criterion
Captions available
The idea
Current classification sorts Eukarya, including all protists, into five proposed supergroups by shared cell-structural criteria — a hypothesis this scheme may revise.
In practice
Each supergroup is defined by how its members' nucleus, cytoskeleton, or endosymbiotic organelles diverge from the ancestral pattern.
Where people slip
This course teaches the defining criteria for membership, not a fixed final tree — the scheme itself states it may revise.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
Unlocks
- 1997Archaeplastida
- 1999Amoebozoa and Slime Molds
- 2001Opisthokonta and Choanoflagellates
- 2003The SAR Supergroup: Stramenopiles, Alveolates, and Rhizaria
- 2013Excavata
- 2019Classifying an Unfamiliar Protist by Supergroup-Defining Criteria
- 2023Fungal Characteristics: Heterotrophic Absorption and the Chitin Wall
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