About: Rappephyceae

Rappephyceae, or Rappemonads, are a small family of protists first described in 2011, of uncertain phylogenic affinity. It has been discussed as a possible member of a larger clade Haptophyta. This newly identified taxonomic class of phytoplankton are named after a professor from the Hawai’i institute of marine biology, known as Michael Rappé. Rappé discovered these phytoplankton in the Atlantic Ocean and published his findings on their DNA in 1998. Current research has shown that these organisms provide an immense amount of nutritional organic molecules, such as oxygen, for other organisms using biochemical processes like photosynthesis and carbon fixation.