The stichotrichs were a proposed group of ciliates, in the class Spirotrichea. In a classification system proposed by Eugene Small and Denis Lynn in 1985, Stichotrichia formed a subclass containing four orders: Stichotrichida, Urostylida, Sporadotrichida and Plagiotomida. Although the group was made up of species traditionally classified among the "hypotrichs"—ciliates possessing compound ciliary organelles called cirri—it excluded euplotid ciliates such as Euplotes and Diophrys, which were placed in the subclass Hypotrichia. In later classifications proposed by Denis Lynn, Stichotrichia omits the order Plagiotomida.