Dinobryon Ehrenberg, 1834
Lectotype species: Dinobryon sertularia Ehrenberg
Original publication: Ehrenberg, C.G. (1834). Dritter Beitrag zur Erkenntniss grosser Organisation in der Richtung des kleinsten Raumes. Abhandlungen der Königlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin 1833: 145-336, pls I-XIII.
Request PDFType designated in: Fromentel, É. (1874). Études sur les microzoaires. pp. i-vii, 1-364, 30 plates. Paris: G. Masson.
Description: Cells free-living, surrounded by a lorica, solitary or united in branched colonies. Lorica cylindrical, vase- or funnel-shaped, with smooth or undulated walls, in a few species with spiral thickenings. Lorica constructed of cellulosic microfibrils in loops arranged in a spiral pattern, excreted during cell rotation. Daughter cells of colonial species construct the lorica inside near the mouth of the mother cell lorica, thereby generating the characteristic colony shape. In a few species the new lorica forms on the outer side of the old one. Cell cylindrical to fusiform, attached to the bottom of the lorica by a contractile stalk. Two heterokont flagella, inserted asymmetrically in a pit. Two chloroplast lobes, one with a distinct stigma in juxtaposition to photoreceptor on the short flagellum. One large Golgi body visible by light microscopy in the front part of the cell. Reproduction by longitudinal division; one daughter cell settles on the mother cell lorica or escaping. Sexual reproduction observed; a male gamete without lorica approaches a colony fusing with a loricate female cell, forming a zygotic cyst. In solitary species, sexual reproduction occurs as isogamy, and the two empty loricae remain attached to the zygote. Both zygotic and asexual stomatocysts form at the mouth of the lorica. The silicified wall may be smooth or sculptured, the degree of sculpting dependent on external factors such as temperature. The porus may be surrounded by a neck of specific shape. Zygote orientation is also of taxonomic value. The cyst is located within a special encystment chamber. At germination it has been observed how a special germination chamber was produced releasing 4 swarmers.
Information contributed by: J. Kristiansen. The most recent alteration to this page was made on 2021-10-11 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: 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: Some colonial Dinobryon species occur abundantly and characterize clear water lakes in temperate regions worldwide; other, solitary species occur in arctic regions. Only a few species are marine. Albeit with conspicuous chloroplasts, Dinobryon species are highly phagotrophic, and their predation on bacteria can play a significant role in the limnetic food web (Veen, 1991). In this way Dinobryon covers most of its P-requirements and can thus compete in phosphorus-poor waters.
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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=43781
Citing AlgaeBase
Cite this record as:
M.D. Guiry in Guiry, M.D. & Guiry, G.M. 11 October 2021. AlgaeBase. World-wide electronic publication, National University of Ireland, Galway. https://www.algaebase.org; searched on 16 April 2024
