HETEROCHLORID

any protozoan of the plantlike flagellate order Heterochlorida. Heterochlorids have two flagella of unequal length and chromatophores whose pigments vary from yellow to yellow-green. Food reserves are stored as leucosin (probably a carbohydrate) and lipids. Some genera may be amoeboid during part of the life cycle; others may include a palmella stage, a condition in which the cells occur in a mucilaginous envelope but continue to metabolize. Its siliceous cyst wall is formed within the cytoplasm. Representative genera include Nephrochloris, Chloromeson, and Rhizochloris.