[2] In 2013, Bock et al. found a new clade of algae including Crucigenia tetrapedia and three others using molecular methods.
[2] Lemmermannia includes triangular or oval green, planktonic algae that mostly form tightly joined square coenobia of 4 cells, with or without small rectangular opening in the centre.
[2] Lemmermannia tetrapedia can use hypoxanthine and allantoin as the only nitrogen source for photosynthesis, which indicates that eukaryotic algae share similar purine degradation pathway to higher plants, animals, and fungi.
[2] Lemmermannia species perform two types of reproduction: L. tetrapedia exhibits Crucigenia-type of autosporation where the daughter coenobium rotates 45˚ relative to the cell wall of the mother coenobium; the other four species produce daughter coenobia in the same orientation as the mother coenobia.
Molecular phylogenies based on the SSU rDNA and ITS rRNA genes show Lemmermannia to be a sister clade to Botryococcus in Trebouxiophyceae.