''Cafeteria'' is a genus of marine

bicosoecid Bicosoecida ( ICZN) or Bicosoecales/Bicoecea ( ICBN) is an order of Bikosea, a small group of unicellular flagellates, included among the stramenopiles. Informally known as bicosoecids, they are free-living cells, with no chloroplasts, and in som ...

described in 1988 by

Tom Fenchel Tom Michael Fenchel (born 19 March 1940, in Copenhagen) is a Danish marine ecologist and professor first at the University of Aarhus, later at the University of Copenhagen. He is a highly cited scientist and known for, among other things, Fenche ...

and D. J. Patterson. It was created after the discovery of a new species, ''

Cafeteria roenbergensis ''Cafeteria roenbergensis'' is a small bacterivorous marine flagellate. It was discovered by Danish marine ecologist Tom Fenchel and named by him and taxonomist David J. Patterson in 1988. It is in one of three genera of bicosoecids, and the f ...

'', a tiny (5–10 μm)

eukaryotic The eukaryotes ( ) constitute the Domain (biology), domain of Eukaryota or Eukarya, organisms whose Cell (biology), cells have a membrane-bound cell nucleus, nucleus. All animals, plants, Fungus, fungi, seaweeds, and many unicellular organisms ...

organism that is eaten by

protozoa Protozoa (: protozoan or protozoon; alternative plural: protozoans) are a polyphyletic group of single-celled eukaryotes, either free-living or parasitic, that feed on organic matter such as other microorganisms or organic debris. Historically ...

and small

invertebrate Invertebrates are animals that neither develop nor retain a vertebral column (commonly known as a ''spine'' or ''backbone''), which evolved from the notochord. It is a paraphyletic grouping including all animals excluding the chordata, chordate s ...

s. The name is meant to indicate the importance of the genus in the

food web A food web is the natural interconnection of food chains and a graphical representation of what-eats-what in an ecological community. Position in the food web, or trophic level, is used in ecology to broadly classify organisms as autotrophs or he ...

. Several species are recognised: * ''Cafeteria biegae'' * ''Cafeteria burkhardae'' * ''Cafeteria chilensis'' * ''Cafeteria graefeae'' * ''Cafeteria loberiensis'' * ''Cafeteria maldiviensis'' * ?''

Cafeteria marsupialis A cafeteria, called canteen outside the U.S., is a type of food service location in which there is little or no waiting staff table service, whether in a restaurant or within an institution such as a large office building or school; a schoo ...

'' Larsen & Patterson, 1990 * ''

Cafeteria ligulifera A cafeteria, called canteen outside the U.S., is a type of food service location in which there is little or no waiting staff table service, whether in a restaurant or within an institution such as a large office building or school; a school ...

'' Larsen & Patterson 1990 * ''

Cafeteria minimus A cafeteria, called canteen outside the U.S., is a type of food service location in which there is little or no waiting staff table service, whether in a restaurant or within an institution such as a large office building or school; a school ...

'' (Griessmann 1913) Larsen & Patterson 1990 * ''Cafeteria minuta'' (Ruinen 1938) Larsen & D.J.Patterson, 1990 * ''

Cafeteria mylnikovii A cafeteria, called canteen outside the U.S., is a type of food service location in which there is little or no waiting staff table service, whether in a restaurant or within an institution such as a large office building or school; a school ...

'' Cavalier-Smith & Chao 2006 * ''

'' Fenchel & Patterson, 1988 * ''

Cafeteria sippewissettensis A cafeteria, called canteen outside the U.S., is a type of food service location in which there is little or no waiting staff table service, whether in a restaurant or within an institution such as a large office building or school; a school ...

'' (Teal et al. 1998) Cavalier-Smith 2013

References

Encyclopedia of Life
Stramenopile genera Bikosea {{Heterokont-stub