Navicula | |
---|---|
Navicula bullata (left) | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Clade: | Diaphoretickes |
Clade: | SAR |
Clade: | Stramenopiles |
Phylum: | Gyrista |
Subphylum: | Ochrophytina |
Class: | Bacillariophyceae |
Order: | Naviculales |
Family: | Naviculaceae |
Genus: | Navicula Bory de Saint-Vincent, 1822 |
Type species | |
Navicula tripunctata | |
Species | |
Navicula is a genus of boat-shaped diatom algae, comprising over 1,200 species.[1] Navicula is Latin for "small ship", and also a term in English for a boat-shaped incense-holder.[2]
Diatoms — eukaryotic, primarily aquatic, single-celled photosynthetic organisms — play an important role in global ecology, producing about a quarter of all the oxygen within Earth's biosphere, often serving as foundational organisms, or keystone species in the food chain of many environments where they provide a staple for the diets of many aquatic species.
Navicula diatoms have been observed to possess a motile ability to glide over one another and on hard surfaces such as microscope slides.[3][4][5] Around the outside of the navicula's shell is a girdle of mucilage strands that can flow and thus act as a tank track.[6]