Basal lineages of green Algae-Their diversity and phylogeny

Abstract

The basal lineages of the green algae (Chlorophyta) were historically merged in a single class of usually scaly green algal members, the Prasinophyceae. While ultrastructural data were more or less supportive of this idea, modern molecular phylogenetics is showing that a single class is untenable and members are currently accommodated in up to five new classes, (the Chlorodendrophyceae, Mamiellophyceae, Mesostigmatophyceae, Nephroselmidophyceae and Pedinophyceae), with more still to come. This chapter considers the characteristics of, and phylogenetic relationships between, these new classes and other related groups, as well as their representatives and, briefly, their ecology.