Talk:Sarcomastigophora

=Misleading Info= Guys, dinoflagellates are not sarcomastigophorans. They are two different phylums.

Also, sarcomastigophorans do not have pseudopods. Pseudopods belong to phylum Protozoa only.

AznShark (talk) 17:48, 4 May 2008 (UTC)

Citation needed. 97.103.102.255 (talk) 16:30, 8 December 2008 (UTC)

Yes, dinoflagellates (a.k.a. pyrrophyta) are not sarcomastigophora. They are plant-like protists not protozoa (animal-like protists). Note that dinoflagellates (pyrrophyta) have chloroplasts and hence are photoautotrophic. Pyrrophyta are phytoplankton and are at the base of the oceanic food chain. Sarcodina and mastigophora are zooplankton and thus feed on these phytoplankton. Also, dinoflagellates are the cause of red tides because they are biolumenescent. They are also toxic and poison the food chain through the concentration of toxins in shell fish.

Sarcodina DO have pseudopodia, e.g. amoebas. Also, protozoa in not a phylum; it just means animal-like protists. Furthermore, it is much less confusing to separate sarcomastigophora into the phyla sarcodina and mastigophora. This separates these protozoa by means of locomotion. Sarcodina move by pseudopodia and masitigophora move by flagella (hence the common name flagellates). 138.64.8.53 (talk) 23:30, 23 September 2010 (UTC)