Aigarchaeota

Aigarchaeota is a proposed phylum of archaea first described from environmental gene sequences recovered from a hot spring, with close relatives later detected in soils, marine sediments, and other geothermal environments. Because very few members have been successfully cultured, most understanding of Aigarchaeota comes from genomic analysis of DNA extracted directly from the environment, and the exact placement of the phylum relative to other archaeal lineages, particularly the Thaumarchaeota and Crenarchaeota, remains an active area of study.