Westella

{{Short description|Genus of algae}} {{Speciesbox | image = Westella botryoides.png | image_caption = ''Westella botryoides'' | genus = Westella | species = botryoides | parent_authority = De Wildeman, 1897 | authority = (West) De Wildeman<ref name="Algaebase">{{AlgaeBase genus | id=43506 | name=Westella | access-date=2025-03-01 }}</ref> }}

'''''Westella''''' is a genus of green algae in the family Scenedesmaceae, containing the sole species '''''Westella botryoides'''''.<ref name="Algaebase"/> The species has a cosmopolitan distribution<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 is planktonic in freshwater rivers and ponds.<ref name=Algaebase/>

''Westella botryoides'' consists of four-celled colonies (termed coenobia) up to 15 μm; these in turn may be joined to form compound colonies consisting of over a hundred cells and reaching up to 90 μm, attached to each other by the remnants of their parental cell walls.<ref name=Bicudo_and_Menezes2006/> The four cells are typically arranged in a square,<ref name=Wang/> spherical but flattened when in contact with other cells. The cell walls are smooth; cells are uninucleate with a single, parietal chloroplast containing one pyrenoid.<ref name=Algaebase/>

Two similar genera are ''Westellopsis'' and ''Coccoidesmus''. ''Westellopsis'' differs in having chloroplasts without pyrenoids<ref name=Bicudo_and_Menezes2006/> and usually cells arranged in a line, while ''Coccoidesmus'' has cells arranged in a tetrahedral formation.<ref name=Wang>{{cite journal|doi= 10.1007/s00343-023-3139-9|title= Phylogenetic study on Scenedesmacae with the description of a new genus ''Coccoidesmus'' gen. nov. (Chlorophyceae, Chlorophyta) and chloroplast genome analyses|date= 2024|last1= Wang|first1= Qinghua|last2= Hou|first2= Ying|last3= Li|first3= Yanhui|last4= Shi|first4= Ying|last5= Liu|first5= Guoxiang|journal= Journal of Oceanology and Limnology|volume= 42|issue= 4|pages= 1272–1285|bibcode= 2024JOL....42.1272W}}</ref>

==References== {{Reflist|1}}

Category:Sphaeropleales genera Category:Sphaeropleales Category:Freshwater algae Category:Monotypic algae genera