Chaetomorpha Kützing, 1845, nom. cons.
Lectotype species: Chaetomorpha melagonium (F.Weber & D.Mohr) Kützing
Original publication: Kützing, F.T. (1845). Phycologia germanica, d. i. Deutschlands Algen in bündigen Beschreibungen. Nebst einer Anleitung zum Untersuchen und Bestimmen dieser Gewächse für Anfänger. pp. [i]-x, [1]-340 ['240']. Nordhausen: zu finden bei Wilh. Köhne.
Request PDFType designated in: Silva, P.C. (1950). Generic names of algae proposed for conservation. Hydrobiologia 2: 252-280.
Precise date of publication: 14-16 Aug 1845
Description: Filaments uniseriate, unbranched, robust, either erect and attached with an elongate, thick-walled, basal cell or loose-lying without basal cells. Growth diffuse or generalized, producing cylindrical to barrel-shaped to rarely oval cells 20-5000 um in diameter, generally consistent within species. Cells as wide as long or up to ten times as long as wide. Chloroplast parietal and reticulate, composed of many segments, generally covering entire outer surface of protoplast, with numerous pyrenoids. Cells multinucleate with ca. 10 to 1000s per cell, nuclear number related to cell size. Asexual reproduction by fragmentation of filaments or by quadriflagellate zoospores produced in large numbers from otherwise undifferentiated vegetative cells. Sexual reproduction isogamous by means of biflagellate gametes, some gametes parthenogenetic to repeat gametophytic stage. Life history with isomorphic gametophytic and sporophytic stages.
Information contributed by: T.J. Entwisle. The most recent alteration to this page was made on 2015-10-19 by M.D. Guiry.
Taxonomic status: This name is of an entity that is currently accepted taxonomically.
Gender: This genus name is currently treated as feminine.
Most recent taxonomic treatment adopted: 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.
Comments: Chaetomorpha cosmopolitan, occurring in marine and brackish waters, rarely in freshwater. In salt marshes or soft-bottom communities commonly forming extensive mats of intertwining filaments; common intertidally either as scattered individuals or as clumps of filaments on exposed rock or in pools, often as understory species beneath other algae. Some species common as unattached filaments entangled with other algae. Chaetomorpha is not clearly delimited from Rhizoclonium, although the latter usually has smaller cells with fewer nuclei, and commonly forms rhizoidal branches. The large cell size and ease of culture makes Chaetmorpha suitable for studies of morphogenesis and cell wall deposition as well as physiology. Zoospore ultrastructure as observed in C. spiralis is generally typical for the Ulvophyceae sensu Stewart and Mattox. Chromosome numbers of n = 10, 12, 18 reported
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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: https://www.algaebase.org/search/genus/detail/?genus_id=35
Citing AlgaeBase
Cite this record as:
M.D. Guiry in Guiry, M.D. & Guiry, G.M. 19 October 2015. AlgaeBase. World-wide electronic publication, National University of Ireland, Galway. https://www.algaebase.org; searched on 19 April 2024
