Template:POTD/2016-10-24
Dendrogramma is a monotypic genus of siphonophore identified in 2014 from a collection of specimens gathered in 1986. Although specimens were at first identified as two species, D. enigmatica and D. discoides, these were later shown to represent varieties of a single species. When Dendrogramma was first discovered, it was speculated that the genus could not be classified into any existing phylum. However, examination of RNA material identified it as a siphonophore in 2016. The specimens are presumed to represent parts (bracts) of a larger organism whose entire morphology is unknown.
This diagram, depicting the holotype, was included in the article which first described Dendrogramma.Photograph: Jean Just, Reinhardt Møbjerg Kristensen, and Jørgen Olesen