{{Short description|Genus of algae}} {{Automatic taxobox |image =Franceia droescheri as Chodatella droescheri.jpg |image_caption = ''Franceia droescheri'' |taxon = Franceia |authority = Lemmermann |type_species = ''Franceia ovalis'' |type_species_authority = (Francé) Lemmermann<ref name=Algaebase/> |subdivision_ranks = Species |subdivision = }}
'''''Franceia''''' is a genus of green algae belonging to the family Oocystaceae.<ref name="Algaebase">{{cite web |title=Franceia Lemmermann, 1898 :: Algaebase |url=https://www.algaebase.org/search/genus/detail/?genus_id=43433 |website=www.algaebase.org |access-date=22 January 2021}}</ref> The genus was first described by Ernst Lemmermann in 1898.<ref name="Algaebase" /> The genus name of ''Franceia'' is in honour of Raoul Heinrich Francé (1874-1943), who was an Austro-Hungarian botanist, microbiologist as well as a natural and cultural philosopher and popularizer of science.<ref>{{cite book | last=Burkhardt | first=Lotte | title=Eine Enzyklopädie zu eponymischen Pflanzennamen |trans-title=Encyclopedia of eponymic plant names | publisher=Botanic Garden and Botanical Museum, Freie Universität Berlin | year=2022 | isbn=978-3-946292-41-8 | url=https://doi.org/10.3372/epolist2022|format=pdf |language=German |location=Berlin | doi=10.3372/epolist2022 | s2cid=246307410 |access-date=January 27, 2022}}</ref> The genus is found in freshwater plankton and has a cosmopolitan distribution,<ref name="GBIF">{{cite web |title=Franceia Lemmermann, 1898 |url=https://www.gbif.org/species/2641167 |website=www.gbif.org |access-date=22 January 2021 |language=en}}</ref> but the species are rare and poorly known,<ref name=Bicudo_and_Menezes2006>{{cite book | title= Gêneros de Algas de Águas Continentais do Brasil: chave para identificação e descrições | edition=2 | year=2006 | first1=Carlos E. M. |last1=Bicudo | first2=Mariângela | last2= Menezes | publisher= RiMa Editora | pages=508 | isbn= 857656064X }}</ref> and many require revision.<ref name=KomarekFott1983/>
==Description== ''Franceia'' consists of solitary cells in a thin mucilaginous envelope (rarely two to four cells which are retained within the expanded mother cell wall). Cells are oval to ellipsoid, 3.5–15 μm long, with several spines of variable length distributed irregularly over the cell wall. Young cells contain a single chloroplast, while older cells contain multiple; chloroplasts are parietal, with one often indistinct pyrenoid. Asexual reproduction occurs by the formation of two, four or eight autospores which form inside the mother cell wall.<ref name=Algaebase/>
Distinguishing features of species include the size and shape of cells and the number and length of the bristles.<ref name=KomarekFott1983>{{cite book | title= Chlorophyceae (Grünalgen), Ordnung Chlorococcales | last1=Komárek | first1=J. | last2=Fott | first2=B. | date=1983 | publisher= E. Schweizerbart'sche Verlagsbuchhandlung | series=Das Phytoplankton des Süßwassers | language=German | pages=1044 }}</ref>
Species include: * ''Franceia armata'' * ''Franceia droescheri''
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{Taxonbar|from=Q20895689}}
Category:Oocystaceae Category:Trebouxiophyceae genera Category:Freshwater algae