Richelia | |
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Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Bacteria |
Phylum: | Cyanobacteria |
Class: | Cyanophyceae |
Order: | Nostocales |
Family: | Nostocaceae |
Genus: | Richelia J.Schmidt |
Species: | R. intracellularis
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Binomial name | |
Richelia intracellularis C.H.Ostenfeld ex J.Schmidt, 1901
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Richelia is a genus of nitrogen-fixing, filamentous, heterocystous and cyanobacteria. It contains the single species Richelia intracellularis. They exist as both free-living organisms as well as symbionts within potentially up to 13 diatoms distributed throughout the global ocean. As a symbiont, Richelia can associate epiphytically and as endosymbionts within the periplasmic space between the cell membrane and cell wall of diatoms.