Heterodinium Kofoid, 1906

Holotype species: Heterodinium scrippsii Kofoid

Original publication and holotype designation: Kofoid, C.A. (1906). Dinoflagellata of the San Diego region. I. On Heterodinium, a new genus of the Peridinidae. University of California Publications in Zoology 2: 341-368, 3 pls.

Description: Medium-sized to large (40-250 µm) biflagellate heterodynamic cells with cell wall of ornamented cellulosic plates. Plate formula Po, 3', 2a, 6", 6c, ?s, 6", 3"'. Body usually asymmetric, strongly flattened dorsoventrally - few species more spheroidal - with two large antapical horns or spines. Cingulum submedian, circular or slightly descending, lacking the post-cingular ridge entirely or in part, without lists. Sulcus restricted to the hyposome, short and narrow. Distinctive is a reniform or circular pore present in a characteristic ventral area at the meeting of the mid-ventral and apical-precingular sutures of the epitheca. Nucleus relatively small, chloroplasts absent in most, but recorded in a few species. Sexual reproduction and cyst formation not reported. Habitat: Plankton in warm to tropical ocean waters, some species also in the Mediterranean Sea. Most species restricted to deep waters belonging to the so-called shade flora.

Information contributed by: M. Elbrächter. The most recent alteration to this page was made on 2017-05-23 by M.D. Guiry.

Taxonomic status: This name is of an entity that is currently accepted taxonomically.

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Some of the descriptions included in AlgaeBase were originally from the unpublished Encyclopedia of Algal Genera, organised in the 1990s by Dr Bruce Parker on behalf of the Phycological Society of America (PSA) and intended to be published in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

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Citing AlgaeBase
Cite this record as:
M.D. Guiry in Guiry, M.D. & Guiry, G.M. 23 May 2017. AlgaeBase. World-wide electronic publication, National University of Ireland, Galway. https://www.algaebase.org; searched on 23 April 2024