Scourfieldia G.S.West, 1912

Holotype species: Scourfieldia complanata G.S.West

Original publication and holotype designation: West, G.S. (1912). Algological notes X-XIII. Journal of Botany 50: 328-331.

Description: Unicellular thalli, which are dorsiventrally flattened, are ellipsoidal, ovoid, to nearly rectangular in profile. Two anisokont flagella inserted in a small, anterior depression. Flagella from three to six times the length of the cell. Depression may be flanked by two prominent lobes. Chloroplast cup-shaped. Cells lack cell wall, stigma, and pyrenoids. Some species exhibit a large, often V-shaped, starch grain. Nucleus positioned anterior and lateral. Single anterior (occasionally lateral) contractile vacuole. Asexual reproduction by binary fission. Fission occurs in the motile condition. No other asexual stages have been observed. No sexual stages have been observed in this genus.

Information contributed by: M. Buchheim. The most recent alteration to this page was made on 2011-12-20 by M.D. Guiry.

Taxonomic status: This name is of an entity that is currently accepted taxonomically.

Most recent taxonomic treatment adopted: Masjuk, N.P. & Lilitska, G.G. (2011). Prasinophyceae. In: Algae of Ukraine: diversity, nomenclature, taxonomy, ecology and geography. Volume 3: Chlorophyta. (Tsarenko, P.M., Wasser, S.P. & Nevo, E. Eds), pp. 17-20. Ruggell: A.R.A. Gantner Verlag K.-G..

Comments: Scourfieldia is ecologically diverse, and has been found in small freshwater pools, peat bogs, and alkaline bodies of water. Members of the genus have been collected in the United Kingdom and continental Europe, Ettl places Scourfieldia in the class Prasinophyceae, order Polyblepharidales, and family Pedinomonadaceae. Similarly, Mattox and Stewart (1984) include Scourfieldia in the class Micromonadaphyceae (which is composed largely of taxa allied in the Prasinophyceae as defined by other systematists). Several ultrastructural investigations of this genus have been conducted (Manton, and Melkonian and Preisig), however; no biochemical or molecular data are available for this organism

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Contributors
Some of the descriptions included in AlgaeBase were originally from the unpublished Encyclopedia of Algal Genera, organised in the 1990s by Dr Bruce Parker on behalf of the Phycological Society of America (PSA) and intended to be published in CD format. These AlgaeBase descriptions are now being continually updated, and each current contributor is identified above. The PSA and AlgaeBase warmly acknowledge the generosity of all past and present contributors and particularly the work of Dr Parker.

Descriptions of chrysophyte genera were subsequently published in J. Kristiansen & H.R. Preisig (eds.). 2001. Encyclopedia of Chrysophyte Genera. Bibliotheca Phycologica 110: 1-260.

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Citing AlgaeBase
Cite this record as:
M.D. Guiry in Guiry, M.D. & Guiry, G.M. 20 December 2011. AlgaeBase. World-wide electronic publication, National University of Ireland, Galway. https://www.algaebase.org; searched on 16 April 2024