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Contents
1Characteristics
2Classification
3References
4External links
Characteristics[edit]
Classification[edit]
Cryptophytes under SEM
Further information: Wikispecies:Cryptophyceae
The first mention of cryptophytes appears to have been made by Christian Gottfried Ehrenberg in
1831,[11] while studying Infusoria. Later, botanists treated them as a separate algae group, class
Cryptophyceae or division Cryptophyta, while zoologists treated them as
the flagellate protozoa order Cryptomonadina. In some classifications, the cryptomonads were
considered close relatives of the dinoflagellates because of their (seemingly) similar
pigmentation, being grouped as the Pyrrhophyta. There is considerable evidence that
cryptophyte chloroplasts are closely related to those of the heterokonts and haptophytes, and the
three groups are sometimes united as the Chromista. However, the case that the organisms
themselves are closely related is not very strong, and they may have acquired plastids
independently. Currently they are discussed to be members of the clade Diaphoretickes and to
form together with the Haptophyta the group Hacrobia. Parfrey et al. and Burki et al. placed
Cryptophyceae as a sister clade to the Green Algae.[12][13]
One suggested grouping is as follows: (1) Cryptomonas,
(2) Chroomonas/Komma and Hemiselmis, (3) Rhodomonas/Rhinomonas/Storeatula,
(4) Guillardia/Hanusia, (5) Geminigera/Plagioselmis/Teleaulax, (6) Proteomonas sulcata,
(7) Falcomonas daucoides.[14]