''Vitreochlamys'' is a
genus of
green algae
The green algae (singular: green alga) are a group consisting of the Prasinodermophyta and its unnamed sister which contains the Chlorophyta and Charophyta/Streptophyta. The land plants (Embryophytes) have emerged deep in the Charophyte alga as ...
in the family
Chlamydomonadaceae.
[See the NCBIbr>webpage on Vitreochlamys]
Data extracted from the It is sometimes known by the name ''Sphaerellopsis'', published by
Aleksandr Arkadievich Korshikov. However, that name is an
illegitimate later homonym, preceded by ''Sphaerellopsis'' .
[ It is commonly found in freshwater habitats.][
''Vitreochlamys'' is a unicellular, free-living organism. Cells are spherical, ovoidal, or ellipsoidal, with two equal flagella at one end, and two or three contractile vacuoles at the base of the flagella. The cell wall is swollen, giving the appearance of a layer surrounding the protoplast. Cells contain a single large ]chloroplast
A chloroplast () is a type of membrane-bound organelle known as a plastid that conducts photosynthesis mostly in plant and algal cells. The photosynthetic pigment chlorophyll captures the energy from sunlight, converts it, and stores it in ...
filling the cell, with pyrenoids and a stigma. Asexual reproduction occurs by the formation of zoospores within the parent cell wall; sexual reproduction has not been observed.[
The swollen cell wall is gelatinous, and similar in composition to the gelatinous matrices of other colonial algae, such as the Volvocaceae.]circumscribed
In geometry, the circumscribed circle or circumcircle of a polygon is a circle that passes through all the vertices of the polygon. The center of this circle is called the circumcenter and its radius is called the circumradius.
Not every polyg ...
, the genus ''Vitreochlamys'' is known to be polyphyletic.
References
Chlamydomonadales genera
Chlamydomonadaceae
Freshwater algae
{{Chlorophyceae-stub