Article · Wikipedia archive · Last revised Jun 14, 2026

Chelonemonas

Chelonemonas is a genus of heterotrophic protists. They are unicellular eukaryotes with two flagella, characterized by the presence of a honeycomb or turtle shell pattern on the dorsal surface of their cells that is visible under electron microscopy. They belong to the Apusomonadida, a clade of flagellates related to the opisthokonts, the group containing animals, fungi and their closest protist relatives.

Last revised
Jun 14, 2026
Read time
≈ 1 min
Length
238 w
Citations
5
Source
Chelonemonas
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Clade: Obazoa
Class: Thecomonadea
Order: Apusomonadida
Family: Apusomonadidae
Subfamily: Thecamonadinae
Genus: Chelonemonas
Heiss, Lee, Ishida & Simpson, 20151
Type species
Chelonemonas masanensis
Heiss, Lee, Ishida & Simpson, 20151
Species
  • C. masanensis
  • C. geobuk
  • C. dolani

Chelonemonas (from Greek chelone 'turtle' and monas 'monad, unicellular organism') is a genus of heterotrophic protists. They are unicellular eukaryotes with two flagella, characterized by the presence of a honeycomb or turtle shell pattern on the dorsal surface of their cells that is visible under electron microscopy. They belong to the Apusomonadida, a clade of flagellates related to the opisthokonts, the group containing animals, fungi and their closest protist relatives.2

Chelonemonas was described in 2015, along with its type species C. masanensis and C. geobuk.1 In 2022, a new species C. dolani was described.3

References

References

  1. Heiss, Aaron A.; Lee, Won J.; Ishida, Ken-ichiro; Simpson, Alastair G. B. (2015). "Cultivation and Characterisation of New Species of Apusomonads (the Sister Group to Opisthokonts), Including Close Relatives of Thecamonas (Chelonemonas n. gen.)". Journal of Eukaryotic Microbiology. 62: 637–649. doi:10.1111/jeu.12220.
  2. Yabuki A, Tame A, Mizuno K (2022). "Podomonas kaiyoae n. sp., a novel apusomonad growing axenically". Journal of Eukaryotic Microbiology. 70 (2) e12946. doi:10.1111/jeu.12946.
  3. Torruella G, Galindo LJ, Moreira D, Ciobanu M, Heiss AA, Yubuki N, et al. (November 2022). "Expanding the molecular and morphological diversity of Apusomonadida, a deep-branching group of gliding bacterivorous protists". Journal of Eukaryotic Microbiology. 70 (2) e12956. doi:10.1111/jeu.12956. hdl:2117/404026.