Kingdom Archaea

• Describe:
•  group of single-celled microorganisms 
•  Similar to bacteria in size and shape though a few have very strange shapes.
• commonly as spheres, rods, spirals or plates.
• Individual archaea range from 0.1 micrometers (μm) to over 15 μm in diameter
• Body Plan:
• unicellular
• Divergent Event:
• may be the most ancient lineage on earth.
•  The oldest traces of archaen lipid remains come from the Isua district of west Greenland including Earth's oldest sediments - formed 3.8 billion years ago
• Metabolism:
• Both
• autotrophic - Nitrosopumilales
• heterotrophic - Thermococcus fumicolans
• Digestion:
• intracellular
• Circulation:
• none
• Respiration:
• none
• Nervous:
• none
• Reproduction:
• Asexual
• divide by binary fission, fragmentation or budding
• Examples:
• Sulfolobus acidocaldarius - found near volcanic environments in hot, acidic springs containing sulfur

•  Pyrolobus fumarii - live in temperatures between 90 and 113 degrees Celsius