Actinophrys

Actinophrys is a genus of heliozoa, amoeboid unicellular organisms with many axopodial filaments that radiate out of their cell. It contains one of the most common heliozoan species, Actinophrys sol.<ref name="Heliozoa III"/> It is classified within the monotypic family Actinophryidae.<ref name="Incisomonas"/>

Characteristics

Actinophrys species belong to an informal group known as heliozoa, which are unicellular eukaryotes (or protists) that are heterotrophic (also known as protozoa) and present stiff radiating arms known as axopodia.<ref name="Incisomonas"/><ref name="Handbook Heliozoa"/> In particular, Actinophrys species are characterized by axonemes consisting of double interlocking spirals of microtubules. Their axonemes end on a large central nucleus. They are also characterized by the siliceous material present in their cysts.<ref name="Heliozoa III"/>

Systematics

Actinophrys was described in 1830 by German naturalist Christian Gottfried Ehrenberg, with the type species Actinophrys sol. The species originally belonged to a genus named Trichoda, described earlier by Otto Friedrich Müller and later declared obsolete.<ref name="Ehrenberg 1830"/> In 1824, Bory de St. Vincent transferred that species to a new genus Peritricha but, without any new observations to justify the change, it fell out of use.<ref name="Heliozoa III"/>

Species

There are currently four accepted species of Actinophrys.<ref name="Heliozoa III"/>

• Actinophrys sol Template:Au<ref name="Ehrenberg 1830"/> (=A. difformis Template:Au; A. marina Template:Au; A. stella Template:Au; A. oculata Template:Au; A. tenuipes Template:Au; A. fissipes Template:Au; A. longipes Template:Au; A. tunicata Template:Au; A. limbata Template:Au; A. paradoxa Template:Au; A. picta Template:Au; A. alveolata Template:Au; A. subalpina Template:Au; A. vesiculata Template:Au)
• Actinophrys pontica Template:Au<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
• Actinophrys salsuginosa Template:Au
• Actinophrys tauryanini Template:Au