|
|
|
|
||
|
|
||||
|
|
||||
|
Click on images for larger format |
||||
Name derivation:
|
||||
|
|
||||
Classification:
|
||||
Polytoma Ehrenberg 1831,
18 of 20 species are currently accepted taxonomically (Guiry and Guiry 2016).
Order Chlamydomonadales;
Family Chlamydomonadaceae
|
||||
Morphology:
|
||||
|
Colorless biflagellate unicell – ovate, ellipsoidal or spherical. Contains a leucoplast. Stigma present or absent. Starch granules but no pyrenoid. Two to four contractile vacuoles near the flagella. Asexual reproduction with zoospores. Sexual reproduction varies with species from primitive (isogamous) to intermediate (anisogamous) to advanced (oogamous). Zygote often produces haematochrome. |
||||
Similar
genera:
|
||||
|
Chlamydomonas, with suggestions of genetic alliance (Guiry and Guiry 2016). Often called ‘colorless Chlamydomonas’. |
||||
Habitat:
|
||||
|
World wide distribution,
often described from culture. P. uvella is
known to grow in pools of rainwater with decaying vegetation (Ibid. 2016).
|
||||
References:
|
||||
|
Guiry, M.D. and G.M. Guiry 2016. AlgaeBase. World-wide electronic publication, National University of
Ireland, Galway. http://www.algaebase.org; searched on 24 February 2016. Ehrenberg, C.G. (1831). Animalia
evertebrata. In:Symbolae physicae...Pars
zoologica. (Hemprich, P.C. & Ehrenberg, C.G. Eds)
Berolini [Berlin]: G. Reimeri. |
||||
