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Excavata

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State

Excavata is defined by an asymmetrical feeding groove "excavated" from one side of the cell, a criterion spanning free-living, photosynthetic, and parasitic members.

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Euglena, a free-living, mixotrophic excavate, carries a chloroplast from secondary endosymbiosis, and an eyespot that senses light.

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Excavata's defining feeding groove says nothing about nutrition mode— the supergroup includes photosynthetic, heterotrophic, and parasitic lineages side by side.