Zoochlorella
Zoochlorella is a nomen rejiciendum for a genus of green algae assigned to Chlorella.[1] The term zoochlorella (plural zoochlorellae) is sometimes used to refer to any green algae that lives symbiotically within the body of a freshwater or marine invertebrate or protozoan. Zoochlorellae and zooxanthellae may both be found in the Pacific coast sea anemones Anthopleura elegantissima and Anthopleura xanthogrammica.
| Zoochlorella | |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| (unranked): | Viridiplantae |
| Division: | Chlorophyta |
| Class: | Trebouxiophyceae |
| Order: | Chlorellales |
| Family: | Chlorellaceae |
| Genus: | Zoochlorella K.Brandt, 1881, nom. rejic. |
The analogy between Zoochlorella and chloroplasts has been used by the botanist Konstantin Mereschkowski in 1905 to argue about the symbiotic origin of chloroplasts (then called 'chromatophores', a term used for completely different structures today).[2]
Zoochlorellae are responsible for the greenish colour of sea anemone tentacles.
Notes
- ^ Compère, Pierre (November 1999). "Report of the Committee for Algae: 6". Taxon. 48 (1): 135–136. JSTOR 1224630.
- ^ Martin W, and Kowallik, K V. 1999, Annotated English translation of Mereschkowsky's 1905 paper 'Über Nature und Ursprung der Chromatophoren im Pflanzenreich'. Eur. J. Phycol., 34: 287-295. Free access to the article March 19, 2012, at the Wayback Machine
References
- Guiry, M.D.; Guiry, G.M. (2008). "Zoochlorella". AlgaeBase. World-wide electronic publication, National University of Ireland, Galway. Retrieved 2009-02-21.