Eustigmatophyte

Taxobox
name = Eustigmatophytes
domain = Eukaryota
regnum = Chromalveolata
phylum = Heterokontophyta
classis = Eustigmatophyceae
classis_authority = Hibberd & Leedale, 1971
ordo = Eustigmatales
ordo_authority = Hibberd, 1981
subdivision_ranks = families
subdivision =Eustigmataceae
Loboceae [ [http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/klu/hydr/2007/00000586/00000001/00000566 Hegewald E., Padisák J., Friedl T. 2007. "Pseudotetraëdriella kamillae": taxonomy and ecology of a new member of the algal class Eustigmatophyceae (Stramenopiles). Hydrobiologia 586 (1): 107—116.] ]
Monodopsidaceae
Pseudocharaciopsidaceae

Eustigmatophytes are a small group (7 genera; ~12 species) of eukaryotic algae that includes marine, freshwater and soil-living speciesHoek, C. van den, Mann, D. G. and Jahns, H. M. (1995). " [http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=xuUoiFesSHMC&printsec=frontcover Algae : An introduction to phycology] ", Cambridge University Press, UK.] . All eustigmatophytes are unicellular, with coccoid cells and polysaccharide cell walls. Eustigmatophytes contain one or more yellow-green chloroplasts, which contain chlorophyll a and the accessory pigments violaxanthin and β-carotene. Eustigmatophyte zoids (gametes) possess a single or pair of flagella, originating from the apex of the cell. Unlike other heterokontophytes, eustigmatophyte zoids do not have typical photoreceptive organelles (or eyespot); instead, an orange-red eyespot outside of a chloroplast is located at the anterior end of the zoid.

In terms of ecology, eustigmatophytes occur as photosynthetic autotrophs across a range of systems. Most eustigmatophyte genera live in freshwater or in soil, although "Nannochloropsis" contains marine species of picophytoplankton (2 → 4 μm).

References