A comment on Salomaki and Lane 2019 “Molecular phylogenetics supports a clade of red algal parasites retaining native plastids: Taxonomy and terminology revised”

Salomaki and Lane (2019) proposed a new terminology to group red algal parasites either as parasites containing their own (native) reduced plastid: "archaeplastic" (allied to the old designation "alloparasite") or parasites that contain only a host plastid: "neoplastic" (similar to the older term "adelphoparasite"). We believe this is premature. There are examples that contradict their proposed grouping, and their proposal was based on work from the mid-1990s that should be re-evaluated. We also believe that grouping red algal parasites into two groups obscures both our lack of knowledge of these organisms and the diversity that is already seen in the few intensively studied parasites. Instead of making generalizations based on limited knowledge, further in-depth study should be encouraged and will be useful in understanding these intriguing organisms.