Chlorothecium Borzì, 1885

Holotype species: Chlorothecium pirottae Borzì

Original publication and holotype designation: Martel, E. (1885). Contribuzione alla conoscenza deli'Algologia romana. Annuario del Reale Istituto botanico di Roma 1: 182-200.

Description: Unicellular solitary organisms attached to substratum either by an enlarged base or by a short pedicel. Cells vary from spherical to ovoid or clavate to cylindrical, and can be slightly curved when elongate. Spherical or ovoid cells 15 _m diameter; ellipsoid to cylindrical cells 10-110 _m long and 5-18 _m wide. Cell wall thin and smooth or thick and always comprised of two pieces with the apical mostly smaller than the basal (in some species the two pieces are equal or the apical piece is longer than the other). Wall most often brown colored (very often, only the apical part is brown). Chloroplasts one to many and yellow green, discoid, cup shaped or sometimes reticulate; pyrenoids absent. Asexual reproduction by zoospores, autospores or aplanospores. 2-32 zoospores formed per cell; spores 10 _m long and ellipsoid, with two unequal flagella one or two chloroplasts and stigma. Zoospores can become amoeboid. Up to 16 spherical to ellipsoid autospores formed per cell, these released (as in zoospores) by the opening of the apical zone at the junction of the two cell wall portions. Autospores with thick, brown cell wall also in two portions. Aplanospores upon released produce one or two zoospores which attach to the substratum and produce new individuals. Chlorothecium is always attached to other algae or on immersed portions of aquatic phanerogams in peat bogs or other natural water bodies with varied water quality and temperature. Known from central Europe, North America and Mozambique (according to Ettl C. africanum Rino should be referred to Ophiocytium). Species distinguished based on cell morphology and the dimensions of the upper portion of the cell wall, and on the presence or absence and dimensions of the pedicel.

Information contributed by: G. Tell. The most recent alteration to this page was made on 2021-10-05 by M.D. Guiry.

Taxonomic status: This name is of an entity that is currently accepted taxonomically.

Most recent taxonomic treatment adopted: Kawai, H. & Nakayama, T. (2015). Introduction (Heterokontobionta p.p.), Cryptophyta, Dinophyta, Haptophyta, Heterokontophyta (except Coscinodiscophyceae, Mediophyceae, Fragilariophyceae, Bacillariophyceae, Phaeophyceae, Eustigmatophyceae), Chlorarachniophyta, Euglenophyta. In: Syllabus of plant families. Adolf Engler's Syllabus der Pflanzenfamilien. Ed. 13. Phototrophic eukaryotic Algae. Glaucocystophyta, Cryptophyta, Dinophyta/Dinozoa, Haptophyta, Heterokontophyta/Ochrophyta, Chlorarachnniophyta/Cercozoa, Chlorophyta, Streptophyta p.p. (Frey, W. Eds), pp. 11-64, 103-139. Stuttgart: Borntraeger Science Publishers.

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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=44327

Citing AlgaeBase
Cite this record as:
M.D. Guiry in Guiry, M.D. & Guiry, G.M. 05 October 2021. AlgaeBase. World-wide electronic publication, National University of Ireland, Galway. https://www.algaebase.org; searched on 20 April 2024