Rhizoclonium Kützing, 1843: 261

Classification:
Empire Eukaryota
Kingdom Plantae
Phylum Chlorophyta
Class Ulvophyceae
Order Cladophorales
Family Cladophoraceae

Lectotype species: Rhizoclonium juergensii (Mertens) Kützing

Currently accepted name for the type species: Rhizoclonium tortuosum (Dillwyn) Kützing

Original publication:Kützing, F.T. (1843). Phycologia generalis oder Anatomie, Physiologie und Systemkunde der Tange... Mit 80 farbig gedruckten Tafeln, gezeichnet und gravirt vom Verfasser. pp. [part 1]: [i]-xxxii, [1]-142, [part 2:] 143-458, 1, err.], pls 1-80. Leipzig: F.A. Brockhaus.
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Type designated inKoster, J.T. (1955). The genus Rhizoclonium Kütz. in the Netherlands. Pubblicazioni della Stazione Zoologica di Napoli 27: 335-357, 5 figs.

Taxonomic status: currently recognized as a distinct genus.

Description: Filaments slender, 60 um in diamter, loose lying with basal cells, or attached by holdfast with basal lobes. Plants unbranched or with one- to few-celled rhizoidal laterals. Cells several to many times longer than broad. Nuclei numerous. Chloroplast reticulate, parietal, with pyrenoids, often densely packed with starch. Reproduction in freshwater species by fragmentation and, more rarely biflagellate zoospores. In marine/brackish species, isomorphic life history with quadriflagellate zoospores and biflagellate gametes reported from 2 species.

Comments: Rhizoclonium cosmopolitan in fresh, brackish and marine waters, often growing entagled with other algae, or in salt marshes forming a dense mat. Sexual reproduction of R. riparium rare under estuaring conditions, biflagellate zoospores more commonly produced in populations growing on hard rather than soft substrata. Cytological studies indicate a wide range of chromosomes from n=10 to n=30, counts varying between different populations of the same species. Rhizoclonium is not always clearly delimited from Chaetomorpha.

Common names

(as Rhizoclonium)
Swedish: Grönkrull (Tolstoy & Österlund 2003).

NCBI Nucleotide Sequences

Numbers of names and species: There are 69 species (and infraspecific) names in the database at present, of which 25 have been flagged as currently accepted taxonomically.

Names: ('C' indicates a name that is currently accepted taxonomically; 'S' a homotypic or heterotypic synonym; 'U' indicates a name of uncertain taxonomic status, but which has been subjected to some verification nomenclaturally; 'P' indicates a preliminary AlgaeBase entry that has not been subjected to any kind of verification. For more information on a species click on it to activate a link to the Species database):

References
John, D.M. (2002). Order Cladophorales (=Siphonocladales). In: The Freshwater Algal Flora of the British Isles. An identification guide to freshwater and terrestrial algae. (John, D.M., Whitton, B.A. & Brook, A.J. Eds), pp. 468-470. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Contributors
Some of the descriptions included in AlgaeBase were originally from the unpublished Encyclopedia of Algal Genera, organised in the 1990s by Dr Bruce Parker on behalf of the Phycological Society of America (PSA) and intended to be published in CD format. These AlgaeBase descriptions are now being continually updated, and each current contributor is identified above. The PSA and AlgaeBase warmly acknowledge the generosity of all past and present contributors and particularly the work of Dr Parker.

Descriptions of chrysophyte genera were subsequently published in J. Kristiansen & H.R. Preisig (eds.). 2001. Encyclopedia of Chrysophyte Genera. Bibliotheca Phycologica 110: 1-260.

Linking to this page: http://www.algaebase.org/search/genus/detail/?genus_id=32845

Citing AlgaeBase
Cite this record as:
Guiry, M.D. & Guiry, G.M. 2013. AlgaeBase. World-wide electronic publication, National University of Ireland, Galway. http://www.algaebase.org; searched on 21 May 2013.

Algaebase taxon LSID: urn:lsid:algaebase.org:taxname:8339