Phylum: Protozoa: General characters of the phylum and classification
up to classes with distinctive characters and suitable examples
Protozoa represent the most primitive group of animal organisms. They are unicellular eukaryotic
cell wall-less motile organisms and form a very large highly diverse group originating from several
phylogenetic lines. There are about 20,000 living species and many fossils which are now extinct.
The majority of protozoa are free-living organisms in aquatic habitats and soil.
Some are parasitic and pathogenic. Others are symbiotic or commensal organisms, living in
association with other organisms. Protozoa form an important link in the food chain of aquatic
environments, both fresh water and marine. Many of them feed on other microorganisms, and
they themselves are devoured by larger organisms.
1. Protozoa are mostly free living; the latter being mostly aquatic, inhabiting fresh and
marine waters and damp places. Parasitic and commensal protozoa live over or inside the
bodies of animals and plants.
2. They are small, usually microscopic and ordinarily not visible without the help of a
microscope.
3. Protozoa are unicellular or cellular. They contain one or more nuclei and organelles, with
little or no histological differentiation into tissues and organs.
4. They occur singly or form loose colonies in which individuals remain alike and
independent.
5. Vegetative body of protozoa is naked or bounded by a pellicle and provided often with
simple to elaborate cells or exoskeletons.
6. Protozoans may have one or more nuclei; nuclei may be monomorphic or dimorphic,
vesicular or massive. Vesicular nuclei are commonly spherical, oval or biconvex, consist of
a central body, the endosome (nucleolus) encircled by a zone of nuclear sap.
7. The shape of the cell usually constant but changes with changing environment or age in
many.
8. The single cell performs all the essential vital activities hence there is little or no
physiological division of labour.
9. Locomotory organs are finger-like pseudopodia or whip-like flagella or hair-like cilia or
they may be absent.
10. Nutrition in protozoa may be holozoic (animal-like) halophytic (plant-like), saprophytic or
parasitic. They are with or without definite oral and anal apertures. Digestion occurs
intracellular inside food vacuoles.
11. Respiration in protozoa takes place through general outer surface of body.
12. Excretion occurs through general surface or through contractile vacuoles which also serve
for osmo-regulation.
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13. Protozoa reproduce asexually by binary or multiple fission and budding; and sexually by
conjugation of the adults or by fusion of gametes.
14. Protozoa reproduce by both asexual and sexual means, though sexual reproduction is less
common and occurs in certain groups. Most protozoa reproduce asexually by cell division
producing two equal or sometimes unequal cells. The cell division in certain protozoa is
longitudinal, while in others transverse. In some protozoa multiple fission or schizogamy
is known to occur.
15. Life histories often complicated by alternation of generations as well as the hosts.
16. Encystment commonly takes place to help in dispersal as well as to resist unfavourable
conditions of food, temperature and moisture.
References:
1. Adam Sedgwick - A Students Text Book of Zoology, Low Price Publications, Delhi, Vol. I, II
& Vol. III, 1990.
2. Agarwal V.K. – Zoology for Degree Students: Non-Chordata, S. Chand & Company, 2017.
3. Barnes R. D. - Invertebrate Zoology, Saunders College, Philadelphia, 1980.
4. Dhami & Dhami - Invertebrate Zoology, R. Chand & Co., 2009.
5. Ekambaranatha Ayyar - A Manual of Zoology Vol. I, Part I & II, S. Vishwanathan Pvt. Ltd.,
1982.
6. Hyman, L. H. - The Invertebrates - Vols. I to IV, Mc. Graw Hill, 1940.
7. Jordan & Verma - Invertebrate Zoology, S. Chand & Company, New Delhi, 2013.
8. Kotpal - Modem Text Book of Invertebrates, Rastogi Publications, Meerut, 2017.
9. Kotpal - Protozoa to Echinodermata (Phylum Series), Rastogi Publications, Meerut, 2017.
10. M. Prakash & C. K. Arora - Laboratory Animals, Anmol Publications, New Delhi, 1998.
11. P.S. Verma - A Manual of Practical Zoology – Invertebrates, S. Chand & Co., 2013.
12. S.S. Lal- A Text book of Practical Zoology – Invertebrates, Rastogi Publications, 2016.
13. T. Jeffery Parker, William A. Haswell. A Text Book of Zoology, Low Price Publications, Delhi,
Vol. I & II, 1990.
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