Heterochloris Pascher, 1914
Holotype species: Heterochloris mutabilis Pascher
Original publication and holotype designation: Pascher, A. (1914). Über Flagellaten und Algen. Berichte der Deutschen Botanischen Gesellschaft 32: 136-160.
Request PDFDescription: Unicellular, solitary, free-living, swimming, naked cells 6- 18 _m long and 5-10 _m wide. Cells ovoid to ovoid pyriform and always narrowing at the apex and more or less rounded at the base, with an occasional tendency to a certain asymmetry. Two unequal, apical flagella present, these inserted nearly terminally. The motile cell can become completely amoeboid while keeping or losing its flagella. Cells even form long, fine rhizoids that can even be branched. Two (exceptionally three) parietal, yellow green discoid or ribbon-shaped chloroplasts often with different dimensions even in the same cell; pyrenoids absent. Stigma present in one species. Pulsating vacuoles difficult to observe, these localized at the base of flagella. Oil granules and lipids present whereas there is only a single large sphere of chrysolaminarin. Vegetative reproduction by longitudinal division. Occasionally an amorphous palmelloid stage forms comprised of numerous globular cells. Siliceous cysts also reported with a smooth cell wall in two halves, that at maturity release one or two swimming cells. Heterochloris rarely observed; known from marshy prairies in central Europe or in brackish water with variable salt concentrations in boggy areas at the edge of the sea (Adriatic). Species distinguished based on cell dimensions, the presence or absence of a stigma, chloroplast dimensions and habit.
Information contributed by: A. Couté. The most recent alteration to this page was made on 2021-10-03 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=45633
Citing AlgaeBase
Cite this record as:
M.D. Guiry in Guiry, M.D. & Guiry, G.M. 03 October 2021. AlgaeBase. World-wide electronic publication, National University of Ireland, Galway. https://www.algaebase.org; searched on 05 May 2024
