Pteridomonas
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| Pteridomonas | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Light micrograph of Pteridomonas danica | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Clade: | Diaphoretickes |
| Clade: | SAR |
| Clade: | Stramenopiles |
| Phylum: | Gyrista |
| Subphylum: | Ochrophytina |
| Class: | Dictyochophyceae |
| Order: | Pedinellales |
| Family: | Actinomonadaceae |
| Genus: | Pteridomonas Penard, 1890 |
| Type species | |
| Pteridomonas pulex Penard, 1890[1] | |
| Species | |
Pteridomonas is a genus of heterotrophic flagellates belonging to the phylum Ochrophyta. It was described in 1890 by Eugène Penard. Species of this genus descend from a group of photosynthetic algae but have secondarily lost their chloroplasts. They are single-celled flagellates, attached to the substrate by a stalk and distinguished by a ring of tentacles around the single flagellum. They can be found in marine, brackish or freshwater environments.
Species of the genus Pteridomonas are unicellular protists or eukaryotes that descend from algae but lack chloroplasts. Cells are usually attached to the substrate by a long stalk, and have a single flagellum at the opposite end from the stalk. They are very similar to Actinomonas, with stiff 'arms' or 'tentacles' that emanate from the cell body, but these are mainly confined to an anterior ring that surrounds the flagellum, unlike Actinomonas where they emanate in all directions. They are also distinguished by the presence of a very reduced flagellar 'wing' and paraxonemal rod, and by having two ring-like structures below the transverse septum of the ciliary transition zone such as in Apedinella.[2]