Home / Greens /Colonies / Non-flagellated / Planophila
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Name derivation:
Classification:
Planophila Gerneck 1907; 3 of 7 species descriptions are currentl accepted taxonomically (Guiry and Guiry 2013). Order Chaetopeltidales; Family Chaetopeltidaceae Polyphyletic, based on small-subunit rDNA gene sequences (Friedl and O’Kelly 2002).
Morphology:
Sarcinoid green colony (‘chlorosarcinoid’). Small pseudoparenchymatous tabular or circular cell plates when young and consisting of only a few cells, older plants more like a cluster of loosely connected cells. Vegetative cells nearly globular, containing a parietal chloroplast. Propagation by fragmentation, production of akinetes or zoospores. Sporangia formed from vegetative cells increasing, diameter to about twice. Planophila species moslty on moist soil, one epiphytic in salt and brackish water (Guiry and Guiry 2013).
Similar genera:
It is likely that several unicellular and non-flagellated colonial soil algae resembling each other are nonetheless polyphyletic, reduced from aquatic forms and converging to adapt to soil conditions.
Habitat:
Terrestrial (soil).
References:
Friedl, T. and C.J. O’Kelly 2002. Phylogenetic relationships of green algae assigned to the genus Planophila (Chlorophyta): Evidence from 18S rDNA sequencd data and ultrastructure. European Journal of Phycology 37:373-384. Guiry, M.D. and G.M. Guiry 2013. AlgaeBase. World-wide electronic publication, National University of Ireland, Galway. http://www.algaebase.org; searched on 07 May 2013.