''Pedinella'' is a genus of small, unicellular

plankton Plankton are the diverse collection of organisms found in water (or air) that are unable to propel themselves against a current (or wind). The individual organisms constituting plankton are called plankters. In the ocean, they provide a crucia ...

ic or attached, flagellated

heterokont Heterokonts are a group of protists (formally referred to as Heterokonta, Heterokontae or Heterokontophyta). The group is a major line of eukaryotes. Most are algae, ranging from the giant multicellular kelp to the unicellular diatoms, which a ...

s first described in 1888 by A. V. Vysotskij. The

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...

is monospecific, and the single species is ''Pedinella hexacostata'' Vysotskij. ''Pedinella'' has an

inverted bell The inverted bell is a metaphorical name for geometric shape that resembles a bell upside-down. By context In architecture, the term is applied to describe the shape of the capitals of Corinthian columns. The inverted bell is used in shape classi ...

or apple shape with a stalk arising from the posterior end, and has a single, long, ribbon-like, apical

flagellum A flagellum (; ) is a hairlike appendage that protrudes from certain plant and animal sperm cells, and from a wide range of microorganisms to provide motility. Many protists with flagella are termed as flagellates. A microorganism may have f ...

and, a second apical flagellum that is reduced to its basal body. The cells are radially symmetrical, with a large central nucleus, surrounded equatorially by a number of chloroplasts that cause the body to bulge out where the plastids are pushed up against the plasma membrane. The organism is found in freshwater and brackish freshwater habitats. ''Pedinella'' is a

mixotroph A mixotroph is an organism that can use a mix of different sources of energy and carbon, instead of having a single trophic mode on the continuum from complete autotrophy at one end to heterotrophy at the other. It is estimated that mixotrophs comp ...

and functions through either

photosynthesis Photosynthesis is a process used by plants and other organisms to convert light energy into chemical energy that, through cellular respiration, can later be released to fuel the organism's activities. Some of this chemical energy is stored i ...

or by ingesting organic substances from its environment.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q16987615 Heterokont genera Dictyochophyceae