Cafeteria roenbergensis

Cafeteria roenbergensis
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Clade: Diaphoretickes
Clade: SAR
Clade: Stramenopiles
Phylum: Bigyra
Class: Bicosoecophyceae
Order: Bicosoecales
Family: Cafeteriaceae
Genus: Cafeteria
Fenchel & Patterson, 1988
Species:
C. roenbergensis
Binomial name
Cafeteria roenbergensis
Fenchel & Patterson, 1988[1]
Two living cells of C. roenbergensis. Light micrograph. The cells are about 6 μm long. The anterior flagellum beats with an undulating pattern, the posterior (recurrent or smooth) flagellum usually holds the cell to the substrate.

Cafeteria roenbergensis is a small bacterivorous marine flagellate. It was discovered by Danish marine ecologist Tom Fenchel and named by him and taxonomist David J. Patterson in 1988. It is in one of three genera of bicosoecids, and the first discovered of two known Cafeteria species. Bicosoecids belong to a broad group, the stramenopiles, also known as heterokonts (Heterokonta) that includes photosynthetic groups such as diatoms, brown, and golden algae, and non-photosynthetic groups such as opalinids, actinophryid "heliozoans", and oomycetes. The species is found primarily in coastal waters where there are high concentrations of bacteria on which it grazes. Its voracious appetite plays a significant role in regulating bacteria populations.

  1. ^ Fenchel, T., Patterson, D. J. (1988). Cafeteria roenbergensis nov. gen., nov. sp., a heterotrophic microflagellate from marine plankton. Marine Microbial Food Webs, 3, 9–19, [1].