Home / Chlorophyceae / Unicells / Flagellated / Polytomella
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Name derivation:
Classification:
Polytomella Aragão 1910; all 9 species descriptions are currently accepted taxonomically (Guiry and Guiry 2013). Order Chlamydomonadales; Family Dunaliellaceae
Morphology:
Colorless unicellular to ellipsoidal to nearly cylindrical quadriflagellate unicells similar in structure to Chlamydomonas but lacking a chloroplast. Osmotrophic. Contain several starch grains along periphery of cell. Lack of photosynthesis is considered to be loss of chloroplasts during evolution as reviewed by Figueroa-Martinez et al. (2015).
Similar genera:
Habitat:
Freshwater. Widely distributed.
References:
Aragão, H. de B. 1910. Pesquizas sobre a Polytomella agilis n. g., n. sp.. Memórias do Instituto Oswaldo Cruz 2: 41-57, figs 1-24 [1 pl.]. Figueroa-Martinez, F., A.M. Nedelcu, D.R. Smith and A. Reyes-Prieto 2015. When the lights go out: the evolutionary fate of free-living colorless green algae. New Phytologist preprint online. Guiry, M.D. and G.M. Guiry 2013. AlgaeBase. World-wide electronic publication, National University of Ireland, Galway. http://www.algaebase.org; searched on 09 May 2013.