{{Short description|Genus of algae}} {{Automatic taxobox | image = Pteromonas sp.jpg | taxon = Pteromonas | authority = Seligo | type_species = Pteromonas aculeata | type_species_authority = Seligo<ref name=AlgaeBase/> | subdivision_ranks = Species | subdivision = * ''Pteromonas aculeata'' * ''Pteromonas angulosa'' * ''Pteromonas golenkiniana'' * ''Pteromonas protracta'' }}
'''''Pteromonas''''' is a genus of green algae in the family Phacotaceae.<ref>See the NCBI [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/Taxonomy/Browser/wwwtax.cgi?mode=Info&id=52966 webpage on Pteromonas]. Data extracted from the {{cite web | url=https://ftp.ncbi.nih.gov/pub/taxonomy/ | title=NCBI taxonomy resources | publisher=National Center for Biotechnology Information | access-date=2007-03-19}}</ref> It has a cosmopolitan distribution,<ref name=AlgaeBase/> and mainly occurs in nutrient-rich freshwaters.<ref>{{cite book|doi=10.1017/CHOL9781108784122 |title=The Freshwater Algal Flora of the British Isles |date=2021 |last1=John |first1=David M. |last2=Whitton |first2=Brian A. |last3=Brook |first3=Alan J. |isbn=978-1-108-78412-2 |edition=2|publisher= Cambridge University Press|pages=896}}</ref>
''Pteromonas'' is a unicellular, motile organism with two flagella; the protoplast of the cell is contained in a transparent,<ref name=Nakada2014>{{cite book |editor-first1=John D.|editor-last1=Wehr|editor-first2=Robert G.|editor-last2=Sheath|editor-first3=J. Patrick|editor-last3=Kociolek |date= 2014 |edition=2 |title= Freshwater Algae of North America: Ecology and Classification |last1= Nakada|first1=Takashi| last2=Nozaki |first2=Hisayoshi |chapter= Chapter 6. Flagellate Green Algae |url= |location= |publisher= Elsevier Inc. |pages=265–313|isbn=978-0-12-385876-4 }}</ref> flattened shell called a lorica. The two flagella emerge from separate openings in the anterior of the lorica. The lorica consists of two equal parts pressed together at their margins, forming a keel. The lorica is variously shaped, and may be undulate or spiny. The protoplast is pyriform, ovoid or globose and compressed. Cells contain a cup-shaped chloroplast with one or more pyrenoids and usually an stigma. Two contractile vacuoles are present at the base of the flagella. <ref name=AlgaeBase>{{AlgaeBase genus | id=43460 | title=''Pteromonas'' Seligo, 1887 | access-date=2025-04-01 }}</ref>
Asexual reproduction involves the division of the protoplast into two or four daughter cells, which are released when the two halves of the lorica separate. Sexual reproduction is isogamous; the two gametes fuse and develop into a globose zygote with a smooth cell wall.<ref name=AlgaeBase/>
Species are distinguished based on the general morphology (size, shape and placement of "wings") of the lorica, and number and position of pyrenoids.<ref name=AlgaeBase/>
==References== {{Reflist|1}}
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Category:Chlamydomonadales genera Category:Chlamydomonadales
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