Home / Dinophyceae /Photosynthetic / Glenodinium
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Name derivation:
Gr. glen - cavity; dino - whirling
Classification:
Glenodinium Ehrenberg 1836; 22 of 152 species descriptions are currently accepted taxonomically (Guiry and Guiry 20123) Order Peridiniales; Family Peridiniaceae Synonym of G. cinctum (type species): Sphaerodinium cinctum Wolozyńska 1916. Synonym of G. foliaceum: Kryptoperidinium foliaceum (F. Stein) Lindemann The genus is likely polyphyletic (Lewis and Dodge 2011).
Morphology:
Ovoid unicells with delicate cellulose wall plates difficult to see with light microscopy (Lewis and Dodge 2011). Several chloroplasts. Cinctum offset ~ 1 cinctum width and extends to pole of hypotheca (‘south pole’).
Similar genera:
Peridinium looks similar under the light microscope, but generally has heavier cellulose plates.
Habitat:
Global, freshwater and marine plankton.
References:
Ehrenberg, C.G. 1836. Zusätze zur Erkenntniss grosser organischer Ausbildung in den kleinsten thierischen Organismen. Abhandlungen der Königlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin 1835: 150-181. Guiry, M.D. and G.M. Guiry 2013. AlgaeBase. World-wide electronic publication, National University of Ireland, Galway. http://www.algaebase.org; searched on 08 February 2013. Lewis, J.M., and J.D. Dodge 2011. Phylum Dinophyta (Dinoflagellates). In: John, D.M., B.A. Whitton and A.J. Brook (Eds.). The Freshwater Algal Flora of the British Isles, 2^nd edition. Cambridge University Press (878 pp.).