These include a variety of forms found in the intestines of termites[2] and cockroaches, many of which have symbiotic bacteria that help them digest cellulose in woody plants.

[5] Attachment of a parabasal fiber to the first Golgi cisterna by thin filaments has been reported in Tritrichomonas foetus.

[6] Usually they also give rise to a sheet of cross-like microtubules that runs down the center of the cell and in some cases projects past the end.

[7] Similar relics have been found in other amitochondriate flagellates, and the parabasalids are probably related to them, forming a group called the metamonads.

These findings suggested that the capability for meiosis, and hence sexual reproduction, was likely present in a recent parabasalid ancestor of T.