Talk:Euglena

references vs outside links
Nice appropriate references. But why are some called outside links when they're specific research articles? In any case, shouldn't they have the citation in the link/reference, so people can at least see the date before link? Another way of thinking about it is, that if the citation is meaningful, it's a reference. DGG 04:07, 26 September 2006 (UTC)

Bot-generated content
A computerised algorithm has generated a version of this page using data obtained from AlgaeBase. You may be able to incorporate elements into the current article. Alternatively, it may be appropriate to create a new page at Euglena (alga). Anybot ( contact operator) 16:39, 21 February 2009 (UTC)

Upcoming edits
I am a TA for an introductory biology course, and some of my students will be editing and improving this page as part of a class project July 8-18th. They will use this discussion page to post information about changes they have made (or are considering making) to the article. -- EricaVE —Preceding unsigned comment added by EricaVE (talk • contribs) 22:23, 8 July 2009 (UTC)

Uses
I'm not sure how much longer the class project mentioned above will run, but if anyone wants to keep the recently-added "Uses" section in the article, please bear in mind that we try hard to avoid promoting products. I believe the "Uses" section needs a reference in a reliable source that provides some scientific support for the product, otherwise, the whole section should be omitted since it will only act as a magnet to attract WP:SPAM in the future. Or, if available, perhaps give a very short statement with a reference to some general article discussing uses (and omit the product name and details here). Johnuniq (talk) 11:56, 18 July 2009 (UTC) it is not so useful..... — Preceding unsigned comment added by 103.249.6.122 (talk) 13:02, 10 October 2017 (UTC)

&ldquo;&hellip;using a large, rear mounted flagellum for locomotion.&rdquo;?
How is “rear mounted” defined here? It seems to me that the only meaningful definition of “rear” vs. “front” for a euglena would be based on its usual direction of movement; with “front” being the end of the creature that is facing the direction in which it moves, and “rear” being the end facing away from the direction it moves. By this definition, based on my own microscopic observations of these creatures, the flagella is on the front, not the rear. I'm going to remove the phrase “rear mounted” from this sentence, for now, as I think it is incorrect, if not meaningless. Does anyone here disagree with me? &mdash; Bob Blaylock (talk) 00:14, 14 March 2010 (UTC)

Cleaning up references
I started the process, by creating a reflist (and added the new section on Historical Background & Early Classification). I'll finish the job as time permits. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Deuterostome (talk • contribs) 18:28, 25 October 2011 (UTC)

Update: Originally, I intended to provide citations for claims in the article. As I researched the subject, though, I found parts of the article needed reorganization, and some passages were either inaccurate or unclear. I kept as much of the original as I could, reconstructing sources whenever possible, and eliminating only claims that I found to be false or impossible to support with reputable sources.

Things I had to delete:


 * The claim that there are 1,000 species of Euglena, "and more to be found." Various reputable sources suggest that there are 800-1,000 species of Euglenoids, Euglenophytes, or Euglenozoa; however, none that I've found suggest that the genus Euglena itself is so richly endowed.  There are many references on the internet to the 1,000 species of Euglena, but all of the sources I looked at seemed to be reproduced directly from the Wikipedia article itself.  My guess is that the author of the original claim conflated the genus with a higher taxon.  In any case, as near as I can tell, those 800+ species are distributed among ~44 genera.


 * The claim that Euglena belongs to the "phylum Mastigophora." The claim conflicts with the phylum given in the taxobox.  In any case, according to WoRMS, Mastigophora is not a currently accepted taxon.


 * The claim that E. moves by using its flagella.  It's partially true, of course...however, Euglenoid locomotion often has a lot to do with squirming & flexing of the body (metaboly), as well.  A full description of Euglena locomotion would be useful, but it needs to be complete & sourced.  — Preceding unsigned comment added by Deuterostome (talk • contribs) 02:14, 28 October 2011 (UTC)

" When acting as an heterotroph / autotroph ... ".
This section to me seems rather confusing. It suggests that the organism has a "choice" in how it behaves. Is that true? Is that even a meaningful question? I would have imagined that in the presence of sunlight, the chloroplasts would do their thing without any control over them being possible. Old_Wombat (talk) 09:46, 28 October 2011 (UTC)


 * I agree that the wording in that passage sounds odd, and makes it sound like phototrophy is an act of volition. I think the original writer just wanted to emphasize that the creature has two nutritive modes & can shift from one to the other as environmental conditions require.  In fact, when deprived of light for a long period of time E. gracilis will entirely lose chloroplasts and revert to a purely heterotrophic way of life.  But, of course, while it can adapt readily, it isn't "choosing," from moment to moment, how it will feed.  I'll reword the passage (I have some other stuff to add, anyway...the section on recent phylogeny needs to be expanded.)

Deuterostome (talk) 10:55, 28 October 2011 (UTC)

New Section
Added a few paragraphs on issues of classification, 19th century to present day.

Deuterostome (talk) 21:27, 28 October 2011 (UTC)

i want more information about Euglena. Miah Bhai (talk) 14:11, 8 May 2016 (UTC)

Resolving the Euglenozoa / Euglenophyta nuisance
In various revisions over the years, the lead of this article has placed Euglena in either the ICZN (zooloogical) phylum Euglenozoa or the ICBN (botanical) phylum Euglenophyta. The article has flipped back and forth numerous times, presumably because of confusion over the fact that Euglena's phylum differs, depending on which system of nomenclature you happen to be using. For consistency within the article, Euglenozoa is a better choice, because the taxobox uses the ICZN nomenclature. However, Euglenozoa is not exactly exactly synonymous with Euglenophyta(which omits the kinetoplastida), and the claim concerning "44 genera and 800 species" applied explicitly to the phylum Euglenophyta.

To settle this, I've rewritten the the lead, bypassing the phylum altogether, and situating Euglena within the class Euglenoidea, which happens to be coextensive with phylum Euglenophyta. The number of genera has been changed to 54, to match those listed at The Euglenoid Project website, a trustworthy source presided over by noted Euglenoid researcher Richard Triemer. I've added a second citation from that site, backing up the original claim concerning 800 species. The citation of Freshwater Algal Flora of the British Isles is omitted, since it gives a different genus count (which is normal....taxa come and go, and taxonomists don't always agree).

While editing the lead, I changed "unicellular" to "single-celled," just because it's simpler. Deuterostome (talk) 16:48, 20 September 2014 (UTC)
 * Since well-meaning users continue to change phylum Euglenozoa to Euglenophyta (which, as noted above, is a taxon of slightly different composition), I've added a couple of references. I also removed the formal rankings from Discoba, Excavata and Eukaryota (as in Adl et. al, 2012). As long as Wikipedia has no taxonomic standard, and higher-level classifications continue to change with the appearance of new molecular data, assigning ranks creates confusion. Deuterostome (talk) 12:37, 11 May 2015 (UTC)

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