Wellheimia Pascher, 1917

Holotype species: Wellheimia pfeifferi Pascher

Original publication and holotype designation: Pascher, A. (1917). Flagellaten und Rhizopoden in ihrer gegenseitigen Beziehungen. Archiv für Protistenkunde 38: 1-87.

Description: Cells naked, more or less cylindrical, with a single emergent flagellum inserted centrally at the truncate anterior end, posterior end of the cell rounded. Protoplast with two chloroplasts and 1-2 contractile vacuoles. The main characteristic feature of this genus is a single axopodium which is retractile and apparently containing an axoneme. The axopodium originates laterally at the truncate anterior end, extending forwards at an oblique angle for up to the length of the cell or more. The extension seems to be influenced by chemotactic stimuli. Cells are able to ingest food in large quantities. Reproduction and stomatocysts unknown. Found in Czechia in polluted freshwater. Known only from the original description. This poorly known genus closely resembles Chromulina except for the axopodium which is somewhat reminiscent of the axopodial tentacles of pedinellids.

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.

Comments: Kristiansen & Preisig (2001: 9) record this genus as alternately being a member of the family Ochromonadaceae Lemmerman 1899.

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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Some of the descriptions included in AlgaeBase were originally from the unpublished Encyclopedia of Algal Genera, organised in the 1990s by Dr Bruce Parker on behalf of the Phycological Society of America (PSA) and intended to be published in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=44846

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 18 April 2024