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CLASSIFICATION AND IDENTIFICATION OF PFIESTERIA AND PFIESTERIA-LIKE SPECIES. (R827084)
Citation:
Steidinger, K., J. Landsberg, R. W. Richardson, E. Truby, B. Blakesley, P. Scott, P. Tester, T. Tengs, P. Mason, S. Morton, D. Seaborn, W. Litaker, K. Reece, D. Oldach, L. Haas, AND G. Vasta. CLASSIFICATION AND IDENTIFICATION OF PFIESTERIA AND PFIESTERIA-LIKE SPECIES. (R827084). ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH PERSPECTIVES. American Chemical Society, Washington, DC, 109:661-665, (2001).
Description:
Dinoflagellates can be classified both botanically and zoologically; however, they are
typically put in the botanical division Pyrrhophyta. As a group they appear most related to the
protistan ciliates and apicomplexans at the ultrastructure level. Within the Pyrrhophyta are both
unarmored and armored forms of the dominant, motile flagellated stage. Unarmored dinoflagellates
do not have thecal or wall plates arranged in specific series, whereas armored species have plates
that vary in thickness but are specific in number and arrangement. In armored dinoflagellates, the
plate pattern and tabulation is a diagnostic character at the family, subfamily, and even genus levels. In
most cases, the molecular characterization of dinoflagellates confirms the taxonomy on the basis of
external morphology; this has been demonstrated for several groups. Together, both genetic and
morphological criteria are becoming increasingly important for the characterization, separation, and
identification of dinoflagellates species. Pfiesteria and Pfiesteria-like species are thinly armored forms
with motile dinospore stages characterized by their distinct plate formulae. Pfiesteria piscicida is the
best-known member of the genus; however, there is at least one other species. Other genetically and
morphologically related genera, now grouped under the common names of "Lucy," "Shepherd's
crook," and cryptoperidiniopsoid, are being studied and described in separate works. All these other
heterotrophic dinoflagellate groups, many of which are thought to be benign, co-occur in estuarine
waters where Pfiesteria has been found. (25 References)