Parviluciferaceae is a family of perkinsozoans, a group of endoparasitic

protists A protist ( ) or protoctist is any Eukaryote, eukaryotic organism that is not an animal, Embryophyte, land plant, or fungus. Protists do not form a Clade, natural group, or clade, but are a Paraphyly, paraphyletic grouping of all descendants o ...

present in aquatic environments.

Biology and life cycle

Members of Parviluciferaceae behave as endoparasitoids of

dinoflagellate The Dinoflagellates (), also called Dinophytes, are a monophyletic group of single-celled eukaryotes constituting the phylum Dinoflagellata and are usually considered protists. Dinoflagellates are mostly marine plankton, but they are also commo ...

s, an important group of marine phytoplankton. Their life cycle consists of biflagellated

zoospores A zoospore is a motile asexual spore that uses a flagellum for locomotion in aqueous or moist environments. Also called a swarm spore, these spores are created by some protists, bacteria, and fungi to propagate themselves. Certain zoospores are ...

with two unequally sized

flagella A flagellum (; : flagella) (Latin for 'whip' or 'scourge') is a hair-like appendage that protrudes from certain plant and animal sperm cells, from fungal spores ( zoospores), and from a wide range of microorganisms to provide motility. Many pr ...

, that swim toward dinoflagellate hosts, infect them and grow into

sporangia A sporangium (from Late Latin, ; : sporangia) is an enclosure in which spores are formed. It can be composed of a unicellular organism, single cell or can be multicellular organism, multicellular. Virtually all plants, fungus, fungi, and many ot ...

that develop more zoospores. All genera share similar sporangium morphology and life cycle. Their main differences regard the morphology of zoospores. '' Dinovorax'' and '' Snorkelia'' zoospores infect the host cell through a

germ tube A germ tube is an outgrowth produced by spores of spore-releasing fungi during germination. The germ tube differentiates, grows, and develops by mitosis to create somatic hyphae.C.J. Alexopolous, Charles W. Mims, M. Blackwell, ''Introductory My ...

, which is absent in ''

Parvilucifera ''Parvilucifera'' is a genus of marine alveolates that behave as endoparasites of dinoflagellates. It was described in 1999 by biologists Fredrik Norén and Øjvind Moestrup, who identified the genus among collections of '' Dinophysis'' dinofl ...

''.

Systematics

Etymology

The name of this

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

derives from the

type genus In biological taxonomy, the type genus (''genus typica'') is the genus which defines a biological family and the root of the family name. Zoological nomenclature According to the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, "The name-bearin ...

, ''

''. It derives , referring to the small refractile zoospores that characterize this genus.

Classification

There are currently four

genera Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family as used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In binomial nomenclature, the genus name forms the first part of the binomial s ...

accepted in this family. The first to be described, ''

'', initially was not assigned to any family, and instead belonged to the order Rastrimonadida, within the

Perkinsea Perkinsids are single-celled protists that live as intracellular parasites of a variety of other organisms. They are classified as the class Perkinsea within the monotypic phylum Perkinsozoa. It is part of the eukaryotic supergroup Alveolata, ...

. A second genus was included within this order, '' Rastrimonas'', for which no

genetic sequence Genetic may refer to: *Genetics, in biology, the science of genes, heredity, and the variation of organisms **Genetic, used as an adjective, refers to genes *** Genetic disorder, any disorder caused by a genetic mutation, whether inherited or de no ...

s are available. In 2017 the family Parviluciferaceae was erected, with the inclusion of ''Parvilucifera'' and two additional genera: '' Dinovorax'' and '' Snorkelia''. In December 2018 a fourth genus was described for this family, '' Tuberlatum''. The most speciose genus is ''Parvilucifera'', with four described

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

, while the remaining genera are

monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unisp ...

, with one species each, adding to a total of 7 species in the family: * ''

'' ** '' P. corolla'' ** '' P. infectans'' ( ''P. sinerae'' ) ** '' P. multicavata'' ** '' P. rostrata'' * '' Dinovorax'' ** '' D. pyriformis'' * '' Snorkelia'' ** '' S. prorocentri'' (

basionym In the scientific name of organisms, basionym or basyonym means the original name on which a new name is based; the author citation of the new name should include the authors of the basionym in parentheses. The term "basionym" is used in both botan ...

: ''Parvilucifera prorocentri'' ) * '' Tuberlatum'' ** '' Tuberlatum coatsi''

References

{{taxonbar, from=Q42164086 Alveolata families Taxa described in 2017