Hydrodictyaceae | |
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Pediastrum | |
Scientific classification | |
Clade: | Viridiplantae |
Division: | Chlorophyta |
Class: | Chlorophyceae |
Order: | Sphaeropleales |
Family: | Hydrodictyaceae Dumortier, 1829 |
Genera[1] | |
See text |
Hydrodictyaceae is a family of green algae in the order Sphaeropleales.[1] They are found in freshwater habitats worldwide.[2]
Members of this family are either unicellular or colonial. Cells are cylindrical, polyhedral, spherical, or sometimes nearly spherical. Cells contain a single parietal, chloroplast with a pyrenoid.[3] The cell wall may be smooth or covered in warts, ribs or other ornamentation.[4]
Reproduction can occur asexually or sexually. In asexual reproduction, the mother cell becomes a number of zoospores and swim inside the enlarged mother cell wall, until they attach to each other and become a new colony. In Tetraedron, the cells do not produce zoospores but produce autospores within the enlarged mother cell wall. Sexual reproduction, when observed, occurs via isogamous gametes.[2]
Because the cell wall of some Hydrodictyaceae contain sporopollenin, they decay very slowly and thus last long in the fossil record.[5]