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A review of the phylogeny of the Haptophyta

  • Chapter
Coccolithophores

Summary

Most haptophytes are unicellular, photosynthetic flagellates, although some have coccoid, colonial, amoeboid or filamentous stages. Nearly all have a characteristic filamentous appendage, the haptonema, arising between the two flagella. We have amassed small subunit rRNA gene sequences (18S rDNA) from 125 haptophytes and aligned the sequences with those of over 300 published and unpublished chlorophyll a+c algae. Phylogenies were constructed using Bayesian, minimum evolution and weighted maximum parsimony analyses. The high divergence (6%) between members of Pavlova and the remaining haptophytes supports the division of the Haptophyta into two classes: the Prymnesiophyceae and the Pavlovophyceae (Edvardsen et al. 2000). Four major clades within the Prymnesiophyceae were identified that correspond to known taxa: one clade embraces Phaeocystales; the second includes members of the Prymnesiales; the third represents the Isochrysidales; and the fourth the Coccolithales. Two other minor clades contain taxa whose sequences were derived from a gene clone library. In the absence of information on cell morphology associated with these sequences we are unable to determine whether they belong to existing orders or if new orders should be erected. These taxa are not strongly related to any of the known cultured taxa. One to two per cent divergence in the 18S rRNA gene analysis warrants a separation above the level of family.

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Author notes

  1. Alberto G. Sáez

    Present address: Biological Sciences Dept., Imperial College London, Silwood Park Campus, Ascot, Berks, SL5 7PY, England

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research, Am Handelshafen 12, D-27570, Bremerhaven, Germany

    Alberto G. Sáez & Linda K. Medlin

  2. Laboratory of Marine Biology and Biotechnology, University of Caen, F-14032, Caen, France

    Ian Probert

  3. Palaeontology Department, The Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London, SW7 5BD, England

    Jeremy R. Young

  4. Norwegian Institute for Water Research (NIVA), P.O. Box 173, Kjelsaas, N-0411, Oslo, Norway

    Bente Edvardsen

  5. Dept of Biology, University of Oslo, P.O. Box 1047, Blindern, N-013, Oslo, Norway

    Wenche Eikrem

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  1. Alberto G. Sáez
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Geological Institute, ETH-Zentrum, 8092, Zürich, Switzerland

    Hans R. Thierstein

  2. Department of Palaeontology, The Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, SW7 5BD, London, UK

    Jeremy R. Young

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Sáez, A.G., Probert, I., Young, J.R., Edvardsen, B., Eikrem, W., Medlin, L.K. (2004). A review of the phylogeny of the Haptophyta. In: Thierstein, H.R., Young, J.R. (eds) Coccolithophores. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-06278-4_10

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-06278-4_10

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