Ciliates
Ciliophora
The ciliates are a group of protozoans characterized by the presence of hair-like organelles called cilia, which are identical in structure to eukaryotic flagella, but are in general shorter and present in much larger numbers, with a different undulating pattern than flagella. Cilia occur in all members of the group (although the peculiar Suctoria only have them for part of their life-cycle) and are variously used in swimming, crawling, attachment, feeding, and sensation.
8 branches of this phylum, most-observed first
Intramacronucleata
subphylumIntramacronucleata
Postciliodesmatophora
subphylumPostciliodesmatophora
Dendrocometidae
familyDendrocometidae
Lagynophryidae
familyLagynophryidae
Spirozonidae
familySpirozonidae
Arachnidiopsis
genusArachnidiopsis
Malacophryidae
familyMalacophryidae
Ciliofaureidae
familyCiliofaureidae
Where it lives
Recorded sightings
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geo-referenced records in GBIF, from museums, herbaria and field observers.
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In the stacks
Searching the stacks…
Every page naming Ciliophora in the Biodiversity Heritage Library →
This page is assembled live from iNaturalist, GBIF, Wikipedia, the Source Library and the Internet Archive. It is not yet part of the hand-edited codex. iNaturalist taxon 118996.