page_title: Haptophyte
section_title: Characteristics
hierarchical_section_title: Haptophyte / Characteristics
context_page_description: The haptophytes, classified either as the Haptophyta, Haptophytina or Prymnesiophyta, are a clade of algae.
  The names Haptophyceae or Prymnesiophyceae are sometimes used instead. This ending implies classification at the class rank rather than as a division. Although the phylogenetics of this group has become much better understood in recent years, there remains some dispute over which rank is most appropriate.
context_section_description: The chloroplasts are pigmented similarly to those of the heterokonts, but the structure of the rest of the cell is different, so it may be that they are a separate line whose chloroplasts are derived from similar red algal endosymbionts.
  The cells typically have two slightly unequal flagella, both of which are smooth, and a unique organelle called a haptonema, which is superficially similar to a flagellum but differs in the arrangement of microtubules and in its use.  The name comes from the Greek hapsis, touch, and nema, thread.  The mitochondria have tubular cristae.
caption: Cell scheme. 1-haptonema, 2-flagella, 3-mitochondrion, 4-Golgi apparatus, 5-nucleus, 6-scales, 7-chrysolaminarin vacuole, 8-plastid, 9-ribosomes, 10-stigma, 11-endoplasmic reticulum, 12-chloroplast endoplasmic reticulum, 13-pyrenoid, 14-thylakoids.