Katodinium Fott, 1957
Holotype species: Katodinium nieuportense (Conrad) Fott
Publication details: Fott, 1957: 287, 313
Original publication: Fott, B. (1957). Taxonomie drobnohledné flory našich vod [Taxonomie der mikroskopischen Flora einheimischer Gewasser]. Preslia 29: 278-319, 11 figs.
Request PDFDescription: Free-living, globular, ovoid or dorsiventrally compressed unarmored flagellate (5-50 µm) with cingulum located in posterior part of cell, separating the short and often minute hypocone from the much larger epicone. Sulcus often smooth, extending onto the epicone only in a few species. Nucleus a typical dinokaryon, located in most species in the epicone. Chloroplasts present or absent. Phototrophic, mixotrophic, or phagotrophic. Some species feed with a peduncle by myzocytosis exhibiting a special ultrastruture, a so-called microtubular basket. Chemical sensing apparently enables prey detection. The ultrastructure has been studied in K. rotundatum, a phototrophic species (Hansen 1989). The peripherally located chloroplast with its pyrenoid is surrounded by 3 membranes. A polysaccharide cap sometimes covers the outside of the pyrenoid. Numerous mitochondria with tubular cristae are lying in the cytoplasm as do trichocysts. The nucleus is located dorsally in the epicone. It contains a distinct nucleolus and numerous chromosomes, some of which are attached to the nuclear envelope. The amphiesma is composed of an outermost layer of scales, the plasma membrane, and an internal layer of flattened vesicles, each one containing a thin platelet. Cosmopolitan in freshwater, brackish and marine plankton and benthos, some sand-dwelling species. Most species live in freshwater near the bottom, but marine planktonic species are known to form dense blooms.
Information contributed by: M. Elbrächter. The most recent alteration to this page was made on 2024-06-13 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 neuter.
Most recent taxonomic treatment adopted: Moestrup, Ø. & Calado, A.J. (2018). Süßwasserflora von Mitteleuropa. Dinophyceae. Vol. 6 pp. [i]-xii, [1]-560, 421 figures. Berlin: Springer Spektrum.
Nomenclatural note
Substitute name for Massartia W. Conrad 1926, non De Wildeman 1897. Moestrup & Calado (2018: 158) note "The type species of the genus Katodinium Fott, K. nieuportense W. Conrad, was described from a brackish water shellhole in Belgium (Conrad 1926). It has rarely been reported since then and its identity is therefore somewhat uncertain. Cells were described to possess 2-4 chloroplasts, illustrated as four yellowish-brown, elongate-elliptical plates. The cells were further characterized by the epicone being much larger than the hypocone, and the generic name was subsequently used for naked marine and freshwater gymnodinioids in which the epicone is larger than the hypocone. Most of these species have now been transferred to other genera (Gymnodinium, Gyrodinium and Opisthoaulax), and this leaves only two species in fresh water. As the specific epithets of both these species are unavailable in Gymnodinium and their affinities are unclear we refrain from creating new names for them at this time." - (18 October 2018) - M.D. Guiry
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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=43633
Citing AlgaeBase
Cite this record as:
M.D. Guiry in Guiry, M.D. & Guiry, G.M. 13 June 2024. AlgaeBase. World-wide electronic publication, National University of Ireland, Galway. https://www.algaebase.org; searched on 20 May 2025
