Dictyocha

Dictyocha is a genus of silicoflagellates, marine photosynthetic unicellular protists that take the form of either flagellates or axopodial amoebae. Described by Ehrenberg in 1837, Dictyocha contains many important species of the marine phytoplankton, some of them responsible for algal blooms that are toxic to fish.^[3]

Dictyocha
D. speculum
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Clade:	Sar
Clade:	Stramenopiles
Phylum:	Ochrophyta
Class:	Dictyochophyceae
Order:	Dictyochales
Family:	Dictyochaceae
Genus:	Dictyocha Ehrenberg, 1837
Type species
Dictyocha speculum Ehrenberg, 1837
Species
D. speculum D. fibula D. octonaria
Synonyms
Hannaites Mandra, 1969 Akbuluta Özdikmen, 2009[1][2]

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.^[4] Dictyocha was regarded as the sole genus of the entire family Dictyochaceae and order Dictyochales (known as silicoflagellates sensu stricto)^[3] until 2012, when a second genus Vicicitus was described.^[5] There are currently four accepted species of Dictyocha:^[4]

• Dictyocha speculum Ehrenberg, 1837

• Dictyocha fibula Ehrenberg, 1837

• Dictyocha octonaria Ehrenberg, 1837

• Dictyocha californica Schrader & Murray, 1983^[6]