Oikomonas Kent, 1880
Holotype species: Oikomonas mutabilis Kent
Original publication and holotype designation: Kent, W.S. (1880). A manual of the Infusoria; including a description of all known flagellate, ciliate and tentaculiferous Protozoa, British and foreign, and an account of the organisation and affinities of the sponges. Vol. 1 pp. [x], 1-144, 8 plates. London: David Bogue.
Request PDFDescription: Cells colorless, naked, solitary, spherical to oval in face view and not compressed in transverse section. Free-swimming or occasionally attached to a substrate by a threadlike prolongation of the posterior end. The front end is usually obliquely truncate and has an emargination from where a long flagellum emerges. (A reduced second flagellum may be present, but this has not yet been demonstrated by EM studies). Stigma has been observed in one species (O. ocellata). Protoplast also contains one-3 contractile vacuoles and primary food vacuoles, which migrate to the posterior portion of the cell fusing with a larger food vacuole, where digestion proceeds. Both osmotrophic (saprozoic) and phagotrophic nutrition reported. Reproduction by longitudinal division. Sexual fusion of gametes has been observed. Stomatocysts known from one species (Martin 1912). Oikomonas appears to be the colorless counterpart of Chromulina, but the identity of the genus is not clear (Silva 1960; Preisig and others 1991). Heterochromulina, recognized as a separate genus by some authors (Bourrelly 1981; Starmach 1985), is probably not justified and has been included in Oikomonas (Preisig and others 1991). Some 20 species of Oikomonas have been described, but only O. mutabilis and O. termo appear to occur frequently. They are mostly found in polluted freshwater, but have also been reported from saline waters and from soil. Most other species are poorly known, possibly are synonyms of O. mutabilis and O. termo or belong elsewhere.
Information contributed by: H.R. Preisig. The most recent alteration to this page was made on 2021-10-18 by M.D. Guiry.
Taxonomic status: This name is of an entity that is currently accepted taxonomically.
Gender: This genus name is currently treated as feminine.
Most recent taxonomic treatment adopted: Kawai, H. & Nakayama, T. (2015). Introduction (Heterokontobionta p.p.), Cryptophyta, Dinophyta, Haptophyta, Heterokontophyta (except Coscinodiscophyceae, Mediophyceae, Fragilariophyceae, Bacillariophyceae, Phaeophyceae, Eustigmatophyceae), Chlorarachniophyta, Euglenophyta. In: Syllabus of plant families. Adolf Engler's Syllabus der Pflanzenfamilien. Ed. 13. Phototrophic eukaryotic Algae. Glaucocystophyta, Cryptophyta, Dinophyta/Dinozoa, Haptophyta, Heterokontophyta/Ochrophyta, Chlorarachnniophyta/Cercozoa, Chlorophyta, Streptophyta p.p. (Frey, W. Eds), pp. 11-64, 103-139. Stuttgart: Borntraeger Science Publishers.
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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.
Linking to this page: https://www.algaebase.org/search/genus/detail/?genus_id=44782
Citing AlgaeBase
Cite this record as:
M.D. Guiry in Guiry, M.D. & Guiry, G.M. 18 October 2021. AlgaeBase. World-wide electronic publication, National University of Ireland, Galway. https://www.algaebase.org; searched on 24 April 2024
