Stygiella

Stygiella
Scientific classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Clade: Discoba
Class: Jakobea
Order: Jakobida
Family: Stygiellidae
Genus: Stygiella
Pánek, Táborský & Čepička 2015.
Type species
Stygiella incarcerata
(Bernard, Simpson and Patterson 2000) Pánek, Tábosky & Čepička 2015
Species
  • S. adhaerens
  • S. agilis
  • S. cryptica
  • S. incarcerata

Stygiella /ˌstɪ.d͡ʒiˈɛ.lə/ is a genus of free-living marine flagellates belonging to the family Stygiellidae in the Jakobids (excavata).

The genus currently includes four species, all of which are secondary obligate anaerobes. The species are all unicellular and crescent-shaped. All members possess hydrogenosomes, a type of acristate mitochondrion-derived organelle (MRO) that produces hydrogen gas as a metabolic product. Stygiella is a deep-branching lineage within excavates, and hydrogenosome genes sometimes show eubacterium-like mechanisms that have been useful for studying of the evolutionary history of eukaryotic mitochondria.