System and phylogeny of Heliozoa: Should this taxon exist in modern systems of protists?

Heliozoa Haeckel, 1866 are considered as a polyphyletic cluster composed ma inly of nonrelated taxa; they are united by a similar appearance determined by a common ecological niche of passive benthic predators with a food capt uring apparatus. The latter represents by a mighty radial system of granulo axopods, which serve for arresting and immobilizing of various kinds of sma ll motile prey in a large Volume of water. A characteristic body form of he liozoa has arisen in many branches of the eukaryotic evolutionary tree maki ng the heliozoa an ecological but not a taxonomic group composed of seven n atural taxa; they are Centrohelida Kuhn, Actinophryida Hartmann, Desmothora cida Hertwig et Lesser, Gymnosphaerida Poche, Ciliophryida Febvre-Chevalier , Pedinellales Zimmermann et al., and Dimorphida Siemensma. The taxon of di scocristate filose amoebae Rotosphaerida Rainer is traditionally considered together with heliozoa. We consider lamellicristate centrohelids as a sepa rate infrakingdom (razdel !?!) Centroheliozoa Durrschmidt et Patterson, uni ting classes Centrohelea Cavalier-Smith and Gymnophree Mikrjukov et Mylniko v. Actinophryida, Ciliophryida and Pedinellales we propose to regard as sub taxa of the subclassis Pedinellidae Cavalier-Smith (also including the orde r Rhizochromulinales O'Kelly et Wujek) belonging to stramenopiles of the ph ylum Ochrophyta Cavalier Smith. Actinophrys is considered as a direct desce ndant of Ciliophrys, which has developed a more powerful axopodial apparatu s for the intensification of the phagotrophic feeding, but has lost the fla gellum. We see the position of heliozoan orders Dimorphida, Desmothoracida and Gymnosphaerida among heterotrophic amoebo-flagellates of the phylum Sar comonada Cavalier-Smith, stat. n., inside a new class Cercomonadea classis n. (with the type order Cercomonadida Mylnikov), a sister group to the clas s Mycetozoa de Bary and to some other amoeboflagellated taxa. At last we th ink that there is an essential morphological base (discoidal cristae in mit ochondria and close orthomitosis) to regard the rotosphaerids inside a subk ingdom Eozoa Cavalier-Smith at the rank equal to that in othe macrotaxa of the subkingdom, i.e. as the phylum Nucleariomorpha phylum n. In the propose d system of protists we see heliozoa as four clusters of groups belonging t o four different divisions.