What is "chromalveolata"

Chromalveolata is a eukaryote supergroup present in a major classification of 2005, then regarded as one of the six major groups within the eukaryotes.

It is a refinement of the kingdom Chromista, first proposed by Thomas Cavalier-Smith in 1981. Chromalveolata was proposed to represent the organisms descended from a single secondary endosymbiosis involving a red alga and a bikont. The plastids in these organisms are those that contain chlorophyll c.

However, the monophyly of the Chromalveolata has been increasingly challenged. Thus, two papers published in 2008 have phylogenetic trees in which the chromalveolates are split up, and recent studies continue to support this view.