Lambia Delépine, 1967

Holotype species: Lambia antarctica (Skottsberg) Delépine

Original publication and holotype designation: Delépine, R. (1967). Sur un nouveau genre de Chlorophycées antarctiques, Lambia. Compte Rendu Hebdomadaire des Séances de l’Académie des Sciences. Paris. Série D 264(D): 1410-1413.

Description: Thallus dark green, coenocytic, composed of branched, entangled, stoloniferous basal system giving rise to unbranched, erect siphons. Erect siphons turgid, tubular, without septa, to 40 cm. long and 3 mm in diameter, tapering to rounded apex; with large central vacuole and parietal cytoplasm containing numerous nuclei and small, discoid plastids lacking pyrenoids. Rhizoids of variable thickness, irregularly branched, with occasional septa, producing erect siphons sympodially. Cell walls containing xylan and mannan. Reproduction by swarmers of unknown nature, produced in apparently unmodified siphons and released through multiple pores. Swarmers ca. 7 _m X 4 _m, with two equal flagella, containing several chloroplasts and an eyespot. Lambia antarctica is found in West Antarctica in the South Orkney Islands, South Shetland Islands and on the Antarctic Peninsula near Anvers Island (the type locality being the Melchior Islands). It is found in East Antarctica in Wilkes Land and near Mawson Base in Mac-Robertson Land (R. Ricker, pers. comm.). It has been found as shallow as 17 m and has been dredged from 105 m. Near Anvers Island it is often found deeper than 25 m, at the interface of rock and silt, or on deep rubble slopes, sometimes in association with large tunicates and the red alga Picconiella plumosa. Siphons are usually covered with cocconeid diatoms and the green epiphyte Entocladia viridis.Plants grow well in culture. If a siphon is damaged, the cytoplasmic contents round off to form membrane-bounded protoplasts that secrete a new wall and germinate to regenerate siphons. The genus is named for Ivan McKenzie Lamb (1911-1990), lichenologist and phycologist who collected the type specimens.

Information contributed by: R. Moe. The most recent alteration to this page was made on 2008-08-25 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.

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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Some of the descriptions included in AlgaeBase were originally from the unpublished Encyclopedia of Algal Genera, organised in the 1990s by Dr Bruce Parker on behalf of the Phycological Society of America (PSA) and intended to be published in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=43057

Citing AlgaeBase
Cite this record as:
M.D. Guiry in Guiry, M.D. & Guiry, G.M. 25 August 2008. AlgaeBase. World-wide electronic publication, National University of Ireland, Galway. https://www.algaebase.org; searched on 18 April 2024