Armophorea

The name Armophorea is thought to be derived from the Latin word arma, meaning weapons, or armus, meaning shoulder. This name refers to the caenomorphid members of this class, which have a characteristic military helmet-like morphology, and also a twisted appearance that looks like a shoulder. == Habitat and ecology ==

Free-living armophoreans live in anoxic or microaerobic habitats, in the sediment or water column where there is reduced or absent oxygen. Thus their distribution is quite limited, although they are found globally in both marine and freshwater habitats, as well as in terrestrial sediment. Clevelandellids live as commensal symbionts inside of the digestive tracts of terrestrial and aquatic animals. It is hypothesized that these symbionts consume the hydrogen that is produced as an end-product of fermentation, making it a more favorable reaction and increasing its energetic yield. Marine armophoreans also harbor ectosymbiotic bacteria that are sulfate reducers, which are thought to play a similar role as the endosymbiotic methanogens in that they also consume hydrogen as a metabolite of host fermentation. This is in contrast to clevelandellids: over 80% of the methane produced by the American cockroach can be attributed to these ciliates via their methanogenic endosymbionts. == Taxonomy ==

===Order Metopida=== ===Order Clevelandellida (de Puytorac & Grain, 1976)=== ====Family Clevelandellidae (Kidder, 1938)==== • Genus Anteclevelandella Pecina & Vďačný 2022 • Genus Clevelandella Kidder, 1938 • Genus Paraclevelandia Kidder, 1937 • Genus Rhynchoclevelandella Pecina & Vďačný 2022 ====Family Nyctotheridae (Amara, 1972)==== • Genus Nyctotherus Leidy, 1849 ===Order Armophorida=== == References ==