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Yellow-green algae or xanthophytes are an important group of heterokont algae. Most live in freshwater, but some are found in marine and soil habitats. They vary from single-celled flagellates to simple colonial and filamentous forms. Unlike other heterokonts, their chloroplasts do not contain fucoxanthin, which accounts for their lighter colour. They appear to be the closest relatives of the brown algae.

The Xanthophyceae have been divided into the following four orders in some classification systems:

• Order Botrydiales
• Order Mischococcales
• Order Tribonematales Pascher
• Order Vaucheriales Nägeli ex Bohlin ^[1]

Recent ultrastructural and molecular phylogenetic DNA (nuclear and plastid) research shows that the Mischococcales might be paraphyletic, and the Tribonematales and Botrydiales polyphyletic, and suggests two orders at most be used until the relationships within the division are sorted ^[2]:

• Order Tribonematales
• Order Vaucheriales

1. ^ Christensen, T. 1987. Seaweeds of the British Isles. Voilume 4 Tribophyceae (Xanthophyceae). British Museum (Natural History), London ISBN 0 565 00980 X
2. ^ Sina M. Adl, Alastair G. B. Simpson, Mark A. Farmer, Robert A. Andersen, O. Roger Anderson, John R. Barta, Samuel S. Bowser, Guy Brugerolle, Robert A. Fensome, Suzanne Fredericq, Timothy Y. James, Sergei Karpov, Paul Kugrens, John Krug, Christopher E. Lane, Louise A. Lewis, Jean Lodge, Denis H. Lynn, David G. Mann, Richard M. Mccourt, Leonel Mendoza, Øjvind Moestrup, Sharon E. Mozley-Standridge, Thomas A. Nerad, Carol A. Shearer, Alexey V. Smirnov, Frederick W. Spiegel And Max F. J. R. Taylor, 2005. The New Higher Level Classification of Eukaryotes with Emphasis on the Taxonomy of Protists, J. Eukaryot. Microbiol., 52(5), pp. 399–451.

• Coccolithophore
• Cyanobacteria
• Brown Algae
• Diatom
• Golden Algae
• Green Algae
• Red Algae