They are ubiquitous in hypersaline habitats, which they share with the extremely halophilic haloarchaea.
Nanohaloarchaea were first identified from metagenomic data as a class of uncultivated halophilic archaea composed of 6 clades[1][2] and were subsequently placed in the phylum Nanohaloarchaeota within the Diapherotrites, Parvarchaeota, Aenigmarchaeota, Nanoarchaeota, Nanohaloarchaeota (DPANN) superphylum.
[3] However the phylogenetic position of nanohaloarchaea is still highly debated, being alternatively proposed as the sister-lineage of haloarchaea or a member of the DPANN super-phylum.
[4][5][6] The lineage has since been identified in data from a range of hypersaline environments including: Australian thalassohaline lake,[7] Spanish saltern,[8] Russian soda brine,[9] Californian saltern,[10] Chilean halite,[11] and Ethiopian Dallol hydrothermal system.
[12] The currently accepted taxonomy is based on the List of Prokaryotic names with Standing in Nomenclature (LPSN)[13] and National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI).