{{Short description|Genus of flagellates}} {{Automatic taxobox | taxon = Pteridomonas | authority = Penard, 1890 | image = Pteridomonas danica diversity-15-00044-ag.png | image_caption = Light micrograph of ''Pteridomonas danica'' | type_species = Pteridomonas pulex | type_species_authority = Penard, 1890<ref name="Penard 1890"/> | subdivision_ranks = Species | subdivision = * ''P. danica'' * ''P. pulex'' * ''P. salina'' * ''P. scherffelii'' }} '''''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.
== Description ==
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''.<ref name="IGP Silicoflagellata">{{cite book | chapter = Class Silicoflagellata Lemmermann, 1901 | first1 = Øjvind | last1 = Moestrup | first2 = Charles J. | last2 = O'Kelly | title = An Illustrated Guide to the Protozoa | edition = 2nd | editor-first1 = John J. | editor-last1 = Lee | editor-first2 = Gordon F. | editor-last2 = Leedale | editor-first3 = Phyllis | editor-last3 = Bradbury | publisher = Society of Protozoologists | publication-place = Lawrence, Kansas | date = 2000 | url = https://protistologists.org/publications/illustrated-guide-to-the-protozoa/ | volume = II | pages = 775–782 | chapter-url = https://protistologists.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/17SILICOFLAGELLATA.pdf}}</ref>
== Ecology ==
''Pteridomonas'' species are heterotrophic. They feed on bacteria and other protists by means of phagocytosis, making them phagotrophs. They are aquatic organisms found in marine, freshwater and brackish environments,<ref name="IGP Silicoflagellata"/> living at different depths.<ref>{{cite journal | doi=10.3390/D15010044 | doi-access=free | title=Taxonomic Composition of Protist Communities in the Coastal Stratified Lake Kislo-Sladkoe (Kandalaksha Bay, White Sea) Revealed by Microscopy | date=2022 | last1=Mindolina | first1=Yulia V. | last2=Selivanova | first2=Elena A. | last3=Ignatenko | first3=Marina E. | last4=Krasnova | first4=Elena D. | last5=Voronov | first5=Dmitry A. | last6=Plotnikov | first6=Andrey O. | journal=Diversity | volume=15 | page=44 }}</ref>
== Taxonomy ==
The genus ''Pteridomonas'' was described in 1890 by Swiss biologist Eugène Penard in a work on the protozoa found near Wiesbaden, published in the German journal ''Jahrbücher des Nassauischen Vereins für Naturkunde''.<ref name="Penard 1890">{{cite journal|journal=Jahrbücher des Nassauischen Vereins für Naturkunde|title=Einige Bemerkungen über die in der Umgegend von Wiesbaden vorkommenden Protozoën|trans-title=Some comments about the protozoa occurring in the Wiesbaden area|language=German|date=1890|volume=43|pages=73–91, plate III|url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/7094698 |oclc= 2448871|author1=Eugen Penard|author1-link=Eugène Penard}}</ref> Currently four species are accepted within the genus: * ''Pteridomonas danica'' {{au|Patterson & Fenchel, 1985}}<ref>{{cite journal | title = Insights into the evolution of heliozoa (Protozoa, Sarcodina) as provided by ultrastructural studies on a new species of flagellate from the genus ''Pteridomonas'' | journal = Biological Journal of the Linnean Society | volume = 24 | issue = 4 | date = April 1985 | pages = 381–403 | doi = 10.1111/j.1095-8312.1985.tb00383.x | first1 = Patterson | last1 = David J. | author1-link = David J. Patterson | first2 = T. | last2 = Fenchel }}</ref> * ''Pteridomonas pulex'' {{au|Penard, 1890}}<ref name="Penard 1890"/> * ''Pteridomonas salina'' {{au|Bourrelly, 1953}} * ''Pteridomonas scherffelii'' {{au|Lemmermann, 1913}}
== References == {{reflist|30em|refs=}} {{taxonbar|from=Q23070082}} Category:Ochrophyte genera Category:Taxa described in 1890 Category:Dictyochophyceae