Amoebozoa [SEP] parent taxon
contains both fungi and animals as well as some 300 species of unicellular protists. Amoebozoa and Opisthokonta are sometimes grouped together in a high-level taxon, variously named Unikonta, Amorphea or Opimoda.
Amoebozoa includes many of the best-known amoeboid organisms, such as "Chaos", "Entamoeba", "Pelomyxa" and the genus "Amoeba" itself. Species of Amoebozoa may be either shelled (testate), or naked, and cells may possess flagella. Free-living species are common in both salt and
.
"S. droebachiensis" feeds on algae, preferring species like "Sargassum muticum" and "Mazzaella japonica" over "Saccharina latissima", "Ulva", and "Chondracanthus exasperatus".
In coastal Nova Scotia, a disease known as paramoebiasis can cause mass mortality events in "S. droebachiensis", and exert a major control on abundance. Paramoebiasis is caused by a protist, "Paramoeba invadens", which is a member of the taxon Amoebozoa. Mass mortality events are strongly associated with water temperature (threshold