The most closely related large clade to the myzozoans are the ciliates.[1] Both of these groups of organisms – unlike the majority of eukaryotes studied to date – seem to have a linear mitochondrial genome. Most other eukaryotes that have had their mitochondrial genomes examined have circular genomes. However, the taxonomic term Myzozoa specifically excludes ciliates[1] which are rather under the higher taxonomic rank Alveolata. Thus, Alveoata includes two large groups: Myzozoa and Ciliophora[5] plus the smaller groups discussed above.
All Myzozoa appears to have evolved from an ancestor that possessed plastids, required through endosymbiosis.[6]
The branching order within both Myzozoa and Protalveolata, is only partly understood. Three groups – the colpodellids, Chromerida and the Apicomplexa – appear to be sister clades.[7] Three other groups – the perkinsids, Syndiniales and Oxyrrhis are distantly related to the dinoflagellates.[8][9]
^Muñoz-Gómez, Sergio A.; Slamovits, Claudio H. (2018). "Plastid Genomes in the Myzozoa". Plastid Genome Evolution. Advances in Botanical Research. Vol. 85. pp. 55–94. doi:10.1016/bs.abr.2017.11.015. ISBN9780128134573.
^Leander BS, Kuvardina ON, Aleshin VV, Mylnikov AP, Keeling PJ (2003). "Molecular phylogeny and surface morphology of Colpodella edax (Alveolata): insights into the phagotrophic ancestry of apicomplexans". J. Eukaryot. Microbiol. 50 (5): 334–40. doi:10.1111/j.1550-7408.2003.tb00145.x. PMID14563171.
