Home / Chlorophyceae / Unicells / Flagellated / Vitreochlamys
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Name derivation:
Classification:
Vitreochlamys Batko 1970; 13 of 14 species descriptions are currently accepted taxonomically (Guiry and Guiry 2013). However, Mataloni and Velez (2009) suggest 25 species descriptions. Order Chlamydomonadales; Family Chlamydomonadaceae Previously called Sphaerellopsis (Korchikoff 1925), a name already ascribed to an ascomycete fungus (Batko 1970).
Morphology:
Green or colorless flagellated unicells, spherical to cylindrical, with two isokont anterior flagella. Clear and colorless gel-like layer separates wall from cell membrane. Chloroplast is cup-shaped to H-shaped, and pyrenoid is present or absent (species specific). Two to four contractile vacuoles at base of flagella. Vitreochlamys, based on sequence data (1128 base pairs of the coding region of the rbcL gene), includes three clades consistent with ultrastructural features of the stigma (2 or 3 layers of ‘globules’) and pyrenoids (Nakazawa et al. 2001). V. hyalina is colorless.
Similar genera:
Haematococcus spp. also have a hyaline region between the cell membrane and outer cellulosic wall, as well as radiating cytoplasmic strands or ‘bridges’ missing from Vitreochlamys (Mataloni and Velez 2009).
Habitat:
Soil and freshwater lakes. Wide trophic range from oligotrophic to dystrophic, or in ephemeral pools. Abundant in a hypertrophic Antarctic pool on a small islet fertilized by a penguin colony (Ibid.). Cultures from soil habitats can be initiated by adding soil and a pea (Pisum sativum L.) to distilled water in a petri dish, 2cm diameter (Nakazawa et al. 2001).
References:
Batko, A. 1970. A new Dangeardia which invades motile Chlamydomonadaceous monads. Acta Mycol. 6:407-435. Guiry, M.D. and G.M. Guiry 2015. AlgaeBase. World-wide electronic publication, National University of Ireland, Galway. http://www.algaebase.org; searched on 20 January 2015. Mataloni, G., and C.G. Velez 2009. Vitreochlamys primaverae (Volvocales, Chlorophyceae): A new green flagellate from the Antarctic Peninsula. Algological Studies 131:1-14. Nakazawa, A., L. Krienitz,and H. Nozaki 2001. Taxonomy of the unicellular green algal genusVitreochlamys (Volvocales), based on comparative morphology of cultured material. European Journal of Phycology 36: 113-128.