An isolate of the very small marine dinoflagellate Biecheleriopsis adriatica gen. et sp. nov. (12-15 µm long) has been examined by light, scanning and transmission electron microscopy, combined with partial sequencing of nuclear-encoded large subunit rRNA. Biecheleriopsis is a genus of thin-walled dinoflagellates, related to Biecheleria and the taxonomic group of Polarella, Protodinium and Symbiodinium, the latter comprising mainly symbionts of marine invertebrates. The mixotrophic Biecheleriopsis adriatica is characterized by: (i) a special type of apical furrow apparatus; (ii) an eyespot of Type E sensu Moestrup and Daugbjerg; (iii) an unusual type of pyrenoid; and (iv) a spiny resting cyst. Thin sections showed the presence a fibrous connection between the flagellar apparatus and a finger-like extension of the nucleus ('rhizoplast'). It forms a physical connection between the flagella and the nucleus. This unusual structure has previously been considered to characterize the 'true' gymnodinioids, represented by Gymnodinium sensu Daugbjerg et al. and related forms. However, the apical furrow apparatus and the nuclear envelope of Biecheleriopsis are woloszynskioid rather than gymnodinioid. The related genus Biecheleria lacks a rhizoplast, and it also lacks a 51-base pair fragment of domain D2 of the large subunit rRNA, which is present in other woloszynskioids. A physical connection between the flagellar apparatus and the nucleus mediated by a fibrous structure is known in other groups of protists, for example, the 'rhizoplast' of many heterokont flagellates, some green algal flagellates, etc. The phylogenetic significance of a rhizoplast in two groups of dinoflagellates that are only distantly related is presently difficult to assess.