Are animals descended from euglenoids or protozoans , if we take into account the phylogeny ?

Question

Euglenoids shows connecting link between plants and animals and protozoans themselves are animal like protists , from whom did animals descended from ?

Answer 1

The most accurate answer is neither. This particular question is made difficult by the recent reclassification of protists and other eukaryotes based on molecular analysis (DNA). Eulgenoids (aka euglenozoa) are part of the supergroup Excavates. Protozoa used to refer to all animal-like protists, but this reclassification has determined that they do not have as much in common genetically as one may expect. So this term is largely not used to refer to a specific group of organisms anymore. The closest living protist relative of animals are choanoflagellates who share a structure similar to that of some cells in the most ancestral animal phylum, Porifera (sponges). Choanoflagellates and animals both belong to the supergroup Unikonts, but animals are not necessarily descended from choanoflagellates, they share a common ancestor. Similarly, the Excavates and Unikonts share a common ancestor. Neither euglenids nor protozoa are direct ancestors of animals.