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Name derivation:

 

Classification:

Carteria  Diesing  1866;  38 of 89 species descriptions are currently accepted taxonomically (Guiry and Guiry 2013)

Order Chlamydomonadales;  Family Chlamydomonadaceae

 

Morphology:

Nearly spherical tetraflagellate ~20µm x 20 µm with a single stellate cup-shaped chloroplast containing a basal and palm-shaped pyrenoid absent of starch. Four contractile vacuoles are located near the anterior end of the cell (Suda et al. 2005).

 

Similar genera:

Chlamydomonas is biflagellate.

 

Habitat:

Freshwater, similar to Chlamydomonas habitats, also in soil water, rain pools and Sphagnum (Pentecost 2011).  Preference of acidic water.  Reported in the acidic mountain lake Plesne in the Czech Republic (Hejzlar et al. 1998).

Reported from the Bui Dam area of the Black Volta River, Ghana prior to impoundment but absent following impoundment(Alhassan 2015).

 

 

References:

Alhassan, D.  2015.  Seasonal variations in phytoplankton diversity in the Bui dam area of the Black Volta in Ghana during the pre- and post-impoundment periods.  Plos online.

Diesing, K.M.  1866.  Revision der Prothelminthen. Abtheilung: Mastigophoren. Sitzungsberichte der Kaiserlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften. Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Classe. Abt. 1, Mineralogie, Botanik, Zoologie, Anatomie, Geologie und Paläontologie 52: 287-401.

Guiry, M.D. and G.M. Guiry  2013.  AlgaeBase. World-wide electronic publication, National University of Ireland, Galway.  http://www.algaebase.org; searched on 10 September 2013.

Hejzlar, J., J. Kopáček, J. Vrba, R. Čížková , J. Komárková and K. Šimek  1998.  Limnological study of Plesne Lake in 1994-1995.  Silva Garbeta 2:155-174.

Pentecost, A.  2011.  Order Tetrasporales.  In:  The freshwater algal flora of the British Isles.  John, D.M., B.A. Whitton and A.J. Brook (Eds.).  878 pp.)

Suda, S., H. Nozaki, and M.M. Watanabe  2005. Morphology and sexual reproduction of Carteria palmate sp. Nov. belonging to the  Cateria group I sensu Lembi (Chlorophycean Volvocales). Phycologia 44: 596-607.