What is so special about the protist?

Question

How is it different that previous organisms?

Answer 1

The protists are a polyphyletic group of organisms (i.e. they are grouped together out of convienience and not because they are closely related). Several protists share features with more than one of the major biological kindoms (for example, some have characteristics of both animals and fungi). They are a very important group for this reason. It is likely that some protists are closely related to the early ancesters of the plants, animals and fungi. Therefore, they may hold the answers to how these groups are related and how they diverged from one another. Sorting out the relationships among the protists will ultimately shed light on the evolution of the major eukaryotic groups.

Answer 2

Protists are a diverse group of organisms, comprising those eukaryotes that are not animals, plants, or fungi. The protists are a paraphyletic grade, rather than a natural group, and do not have much in common besides a relatively simple organization. Basically, the Protists are a group of organisms that could not be classified into any other kingdom.
Protists were traditionally subdivided into several groups based on similarities to the higher kingdoms: the animal-like protozoa, the plant-like algae, and the fungus-like slime moulds and water moulds. These groups often overlap, and have been replaced by phylogenetic classifications. However, they are still useful as informal groups for describing the morphology and ecology of protists.

So to answer your question simply, there is nothing extraordinarily special about protists. They are just different in the sense that they do not follow the criteria of other kingdoms. Taxonomy is always being changed and is a very controversial scientific system.

Answer 3

What is previous to a protist?