Home / Chlorophyceae / Unicells / Non-flagellated / Trebouxia
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Name derivation:
Classification:
Trebouxia Puymaly 1924; 25 of 36 species descriptions are currently accepted taxonomically (Guiry and Guiry 20123). Order Trebouxiales; Family Trebouxiaceae Synonym in PhycoKey: Pseudotrebouxia P.A. Archibald 1975.
Morphology:
Spherical, ovoid, or flattened (within some lichens) Unicells. Non-flagellate, containing a stellate (star-shaped) chloroplast. Able to form biflagellate spores (Shubert, L.E. 2003).
Similar genera:
Chlorococcum has a cup-shaped chloroplast that distinguishes it from Trebouxia (Dillard 1989).
Habitat:
Terrestrial as the phycobiotic partner with a mycobiont in some lichens. In some cases the Trebouxia cells are flattened and even concave on the two flat sides, accomodating the rounded and enlarged ends of two fungal hypae. This increases contact area for exchange of solutes between the two mutualistic partners. Also occurs free living, as on the damp bark of trees.
References:
Archibald, P.A. 1975. Trebouxia de Pulmaly (Chlorophyceae, Chlorococcales) and Pseudotrebouxia gen. nov. (Chlorophyceae, Chlorosarcinales).Phycologia 14: 125-137, 18 figs, 2 tables. Dillard, G.E. 1989. Freshwater algae of the southeastern United States. Part 1. Chlorophyceae: Volvocales, Tetrasporales and Chlorococcales. Bibliotheca Phycologica 81. Cramer, Stuttgart (202 pp). 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. Puymaly, A. de 1924. Le Chlorococcum humicola(Nag.) Rabenh. Revue algologique 1: 107-114. Shubert, L.E. 2003. Nonmotile coccoid and colonial green algae. In: Wehr, J.D., and R.G. Sheath, Eds. Freshwater Algae of North America (Chapter 7). Academic Press.