Sphaeropleaceae is a
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 ...
of
green algae
The green algae (: green alga) are a group of chlorophyll-containing autotrophic eukaryotes consisting of the phylum Prasinodermophyta and its unnamed sister group that contains the Chlorophyta and Charophyta/ Streptophyta. The land plants ...
in the order
Sphaeropleales.
The Sphaeropleaceae consists of solitary cells or filaments of cells. They are
coenocytic, and reproduce asexually via zoospores or sexually via anisogamy or oogamy.
The family has had a convoluted taxonomic history. Depending on the author, it has been placed in one of many orders including
Ulotrichales or
Chaetophorales.
Currently, it is placed in its own order, the Sphaeropleales. It appears to be the
sister group
In phylogenetics, a sister group or sister taxon, also called an adelphotaxon, comprises the closest relative(s) of another given unit in an evolutionary tree.
Definition
The expression is most easily illustrated by a cladogram:
Taxon A and ...
to the rest of the families in its order.
[ It also differs from the other families in the ultrastructure of the basal bodies of their flagella.][
]
References
Chlorophyceae families
Sphaeropleales
{{Chlorophyceae-stub