Distigma Ehrenberg, 1831
Lectotype species: Distigma proteus Ehrenberg
Original publication: Ehrenberg, C.G. (1831). Zoologica II. Animalia evertebrata exclusis insecta. Phytozoa. In: Symbolae physicae, seu, Icones et descriptiones corporum naturalium novorum aut minus cognitorum: quae ex itineribus per Libyam Aegyptum Nubiam Dongalam Syriam Arabiam et Habessiniam. (Hemprich, P.C. & Ehrenberg, C.G. Eds) Vol. 4(1), pp. [67], 6 plates. Berlin: Officina Academica.
Request PDFType designated in: Klebs, G.A. (1892). Flagellatenstudien. Theil II. Zeitschrift für wissenschaftliche Zoologie 55(3): 352-445, plates 17-18.
Description: Spindle-shaped, unflattened, colorless, osmotrophic, free-swimming cells with 2 emergent flagella, one less than half the length of the other and directed laterally during swimming with a cilium-like beat, the longer directed anteriorly. In the type species the long flagellum lashes about wildly, with waves travelling from base to tip; the cell is very plastic, with violent euglenoid movement even when swimming (a rare feature), and variable in size from 40-120 _ 5-20 _m. Also in the type there are 2 or 3 very large Golgi bodies, which can clearly been in the living cell, as can mitochondrial threads in the anterior half and paramylon ovals around the posteriorly-placed nucleus. There is no eyespot or flagellar swelling so the "two eyes" seen by Ehrenberg in 1829 to give the name Distigma are a mystery, unless he saw 2 large Golgi bodies. Cosmopolitan genus, the type species common, characteristic of acidic freshwater habitats such as bogs.
Information contributed by: G.F. Leedale. The most recent alteration to this page was made on 2024-08-14 by E.A. Molinari Novoa.
Taxonomic status: This name is of an entity that is currently accepted taxonomically.
Gender: This genus name is currently treated as neuter.
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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Some of the descriptions included in AlgaeBase were originally from the unpublished Encyclopedia of Algal Genera,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.
Linking to this page: https://www.algaebase.org/search/genus/detail/?genus_id=43642
Citing AlgaeBase
Cite this record as:
E.A. Molinari Novoa in Guiry, M.D. & Guiry, G.M. 14 August 2024. AlgaeBase. World-wide electronic publication, National University of Ireland, Galway. https://www.algaebase.org; searched on 21 November 2024
