[5] Their slender spines may become entangled, creating the false impression that the algae have formed a colony.

[6] The precise taxonomic status of Golenkinia is somewhat unclear due to the large number of revisions it has undergone.

[8] In 1982, Hanuš Ettl and Jiří Komárek placed Golenkinia with Chlorotetraedron and Polyedriopsis in the family Neochloridaceae, under the order Sphaeropleales.

[9] Further analysis in 2015 found that Golenkinia was loosely related to Jenufa and Treubaria, all together possibly representing a branch in Chlamydomonadales that would be a sister clade to order Sphaeropleales.

[7] This proposed clade remains unnamed, and its taxonomy is still not completely clear, despite further rDNA analysis performed in 2017.