Home / Chlorophyceae / unicell / Non-flagellated / Ostreococcus
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Name derivation:
Classification:
Ostreococcus C. Courties and M.-J. Chretiennot-Dinet in Chretiennot-Dinet et al., 1995; one of two species descriptions is currently accepted taxonomically (Guiry and Guiry 2013). Order Mamiellales; Family Bathycoccaceae Ostreococcus is placed in the prasinophycean paraphyletic group of chlorophyceae (chlorophyta by some authors), arising genetically from various green clades.
Morphology:
Green non-flagellate unicell < 1 µm in diameter, considered to be the smallest free-living eukaryote.
Similar genera:
Habitat:
Marine picoplankter distributed globally, often with a subsurface maximum population. Various strains have either high or low light intensity preference.
References:
Chrétiennot-Dinet, M.-J., C. Courties, A. Vaquer, J. Neveux, H. Claustre, J. Lautier, J. and M.C. Machado 1995. A new marine picoeucaryote: Ostreococcus tauri gen. et sp. nov. (Chlorophyta, Prasinophyceae). Phycologia 34: 285-292, 11 figs, 1 table. Guiry, M.D. and G.M. Guiry 2013. AlgaeBase. World-wide electronic publication, National University of Ireland, Galway. http://www.algaebase.org; searched on 15 October 2012.