Oh my goodness! Unless you are a Tree of Life developer, you really shouldn't be here. This page is part of our beta test site, where we develop new features for the ToL, often messing up a thing or two in the process. Please visit the official version of this page, which is available here.
Under Construction

Phaeothamniophyceae

J. Craig Bailey
Click on an image to view larger version & data in a new window
Click on an image to view larger version & data in a new window
taxon links [down<--]Stramenopiles Interpreting the tree
close box

This tree diagram shows the relationships between several groups of organisms.

The root of the current tree connects the organisms featured in this tree to their containing group and the rest of the Tree of Life. The basal branching point in the tree represents the ancestor of the other groups in the tree. This ancestor diversified over time into several descendent subgroups, which are represented as internal nodes and terminal taxa to the right.

example of a tree diagram

You can click on the root to travel down the Tree of Life all the way to the root of all Life, and you can click on the names of descendent subgroups to travel up the Tree of Life all the way to individual species.

For more information on ToL tree formatting, please see Interpreting the Tree or Classification. To learn more about phylogenetic trees, please visit our Phylogenetic Biology pages.

close box
Containing group: Stramenopiles

Introduction

Included genera: Chrysapion, Chrysoclonium, Chrysodictyon, Phaeobotrys, Phaeogloea, Phaeoschizochlamys, Phaeothamnion, Sphaeridiothrix, Selenophaea, Stichogloea, Tetrachrysis, Tetrapion, Tetrasporopsis.

Characteristics

Taxonomic History and Phylogeny

The Phaeothamniophyceae was established by Bailey et al. (1998) and includes organisms once classified in the Chrysophyceae or Xanthophyceae.  At this time the class includes 13 genera and 26 specific or subspecific taxa (varieties).  The class was originally erected based on ultrastructural and/or DNA sequence data for three principal taxa: Phaeoschizochlamys mucosa, Phaeothamnion confervicola, and Stichogloea doederleinii.  Ultrastructural observations of Phaeobotrys and Tetrasporopsis have also been made.  These three species form a monophyletic group that is not closely related to the chrysophytes or synurophytes.  Instead, Phaeoschizochlamys, Phaeothamnion and Stichogloea are most closely related to photosynthetic stramenopiles placed in the classes Phaeophyceae and Xanthophyceae. 

The remaining 10 genera assigned to the class have been placed in the class with uncertainty.  Comparative data for these phaeothamniophytes is extraordinarily limited because they are not available in culture.  In fact, most have not been mentioned in the literature since they were originally described.

Title Illustrations
Click on an image to view larger version & data in a new window
Click on an image to view larger version & data in a new window
Scientific Name Phaeothamnion confervicola
Specimen Condition Live Specimen
Identified By J.C. Bailey
Copyright © 2010 J. Craig Bailey
Scientific Name Stichogloea doederleinii
Specimen Condition Live Specimen
Copyright © 2010 J. Craig Bailey
About This Page

J. Craig Bailey
University of North Carolina Wilmington, Wilmington, North Carolina, USA

Correspondence regarding this page should be directed to J. Craig Bailey at

All Rights Reserved.

Citing this page:

Bailey, J. Craig. 2010. Phaeothamniophyceae. Version 24 January 2010 (under construction). http://tolweb.org/Phaeothamniophyceae/141578/2010.01.24 in The Tree of Life Web Project, http://tolweb.org/

edit this page
close box

This page is a Tree of Life Branch Page.

Each ToL branch page provides a synopsis of the characteristics of a group of organisms representing a branch of the Tree of Life. The major distinction between a branch and a leaf of the Tree of Life is that each branch can be further subdivided into descendent branches, that is, subgroups representing distinct genetic lineages.

For a more detailed explanation of the different ToL page types, have a look at the Structure of the Tree of Life page.

close box

Phaeothamniophyceae

Page Content

articles & notes

collections

people

Explore Other Groups

random page

  go to the Tree of Life home page
top