Microheliella
| Microheliella | |
|---|---|
| Differential interference contrast image of a living cell of M. maris showing axopodia (arrows), tiny vacuole (V) and centrosome (C). Scale bar: 10 μm. | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Clade: | Pancryptista |
| Order: | Microhelida Cavalier-Smith in Yabuki et al., 2012 |
| Family: | Microheliellidae Cavalier-Smith in Yabuki et al., 2012 |
| Genus: | Microheliella Cavalier-Smith and Chao in Yabuki et al., 2012 |
| Species: | Microheliella maris Cavalier-Smith and Chao in Yabuki et al., 2012 emend. Shishkin in Shishkin, Drachko and Zlatogursky, 2021 |
| Clade: | Erebor Shishkin in Shishkin, Drachko and Zlatogursky, 2021 |
Microheliella (from Greek micro 'small' and helios 'sun') is a monotypic genus of protists containing the sole species M. maris, first described in 2012. It is the sole species in the order Microhelida. Microheliella has a variety of unusual morphological characteristics which make its broader classification difficult. These include a centrosome with two concentric granular shells and axopodia much simpler in structure than in visually similar protists (other 'heliozoa').