Pedinella | |
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Pedinella hexacostata | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Clade: | Diaphoretickes |
Clade: | SAR |
Clade: | Stramenopiles |
Phylum: | Gyrista |
Subphylum: | Ochrophytina |
Class: | Dictyochophyceae |
Order: | Pedinellales |
Family: | Pedinellaceae |
Genus: | Pedinella Vysotskij, 1887 |
Pedinella is a genus of small, unicellular planktonic or attached, flagellated heterokonts first described in 1888 by A. V. Vysotskij.[1] The genus is monospecific, and the single species is Pedinella hexacostata Vysotskij.[1] Pedinella has an inverted bell or apple shape with a stalk arising from the posterior end, and has a single, long, ribbon-like, apical flagellum and, a second apical flagellum that is reduced to its basal body.[1][2] The cells are radially symmetrical, with a large central nucleus, surrounded equatorially by a number of chloroplasts that cause the body to bulge out where the plastids are pushed up against the plasma membrane.[1][2] The organism is found in freshwater and brackish freshwater habitats. Pedinella is a mixotroph and functions through either photosynthesis or by ingesting organic substances from its environment.