Family: Colonial, usually with a gelatinous coat; 4 daughter cells are connected with filaments derived from their maternal cell wall; cell body spherical, elliptical or heart-shaped; a single chloroplast plate-like or cup-shaped containing a pyrenoid; asexual reproduction by autospore, sexual reproduction by fertilization of egg and sperm.
Genus: Colony of 16 or 32 cells, planktonic; cell body spherical; four daughter cells connected each other by the remnants of mother cell wall; a single chloroplast cup-shaped with a pyrenoid (Guide book to the "Photomicrographs of the Freshwater Algae", 1998).

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W. botryoides cell 5.5-7 μm Matsumoto Nagano, 2001	W. botryoides cell μm Omine-numa Tsukiyono Gunma, 2003	W. botryoides cell 4.5 μm &3966;m Omine-numa Minakami Gunma, 2006	W. botryoides cell μm &3966;m Omine-numa Minakami Gunma, 2007
W. botryoides cell μm Chiba-Minato Park Chiba, 2003	W. botryoides cell μm Chiba-Minato p. Chiba Chiba, 2003	Westella sp. cell 8-14 μm φ Japan, 1997	Westella sp. cell 5-15 μm Japan, 1998
Westella sp. cell 9-11 μm Japan, 1998	W. botryoides cell 6 μm near City Hall Fujimi Saitama, 2004	W. botryoides cell 5-9 μm φ water reservoir near Yamaguchi Univ. Yamaguchi, 2004	W. botryoides cell μm Umi-no-nakamichi Fukuoka, 2001

Similar genus -->> Dictyosphaerium;

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