The zoospores of Pseudendoclonium basiliense and Trichosarcina polymorpha possess body scales similar to scales in Chara, Nitella, Coleochaete, and certain green monads that are often placed in a separate class, the Prasinophyceae. Otherwise, the zoospores are of the "ulotrichalean" type; that is, the basal bodies of the four flagella are two L-shaped pairs arranged in mirror-image relation. It is concluded that "prasinophytes" are not separable from the Chlorophyceae. Scales are indistinct and of brief occurrence on the zoospores of T. polymorpha, but in P. basiliense scales occur on the outer surface of the cell walls of germlings and on the walls of aplanospores. Evolution of more complex motile cells of plants is briefly discussed. It is suggested that Pseudendoclonium and certain other chaetophoralean or ulotrichalean algae might be better included in the same order with Ulva, Enteromorpha, Percursaria, and Trichosarcina, but a firm decision awaits studies of mitosis and cytokinesis.
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Mattox et al. (1973) studied this question.