Stramenopile

Summary

The stramenopiles, also called heterokonts, are protists distinguished by the presence of stiff tripartite external hairs. In most species, the hairs are attached to flagella, in some they are attached to other areas of the cell surface, and in some they have been secondarily lost. Stramenopiles represent one of the three major clades in the SAR supergroup, along with Alveolata and Rhizaria.