Dictyocha


Dictyocha is a genus of silicoflagellates, marine photosynthetic unicellular protists that take the form of either flagellates or axopodial amoebae. Described by Christian [Gottfried Ehrenberg|Ehrenberg] in 1837, Dictyocha contains many important species of the marine phytoplankton, some of them responsible for algal blooms that are toxic to fish.

Systematics

The genus Dictyocha was described in 1837 by Ehrenberg from Algerian fossil material, and its taxonomy has been based exclusively on the morphology of their siliceous skeletons. Dictyocha was regarded as the sole genus of the entire family Dictyochaceae and order Dictyochales until 2012, when a second genus Vicicitus was described. There are currently four accepted species of Dictyocha: