Description of Discocelis
provided by BioPedia
Circumscription: Small flattened gliding flagellates, heterotrophic, with two emergent flagella; asymmetric cell shape in part caused by an internal organic cytoskeletal velum marine; some similarities to apusomonads. Ultrastructural identity: Mitochondria with tubular cristae, with two flagella and two basal bodies closely associated with the nucleus, basal bodies giving rise to several microtubular ribbons. Flagella without hairs or other excrescences. With peripheral concentrically structured extrusomes. With finely striated thin organic layer (velum) underlying the cell membrane. Synapomorphy: Tubulocristate eukaryote with cytoskeletal velum. Composition: One genus, several species.
