Sphaerosorus Pascher, 1938
Holotype species: Sphaerosorus coelastroides Pascher
Original publication and holotype designation: Pascher, A. (1938). Heterokonten. In: Kryptogamen-Flora von Deutschland, Österreich und der Schweiz. (Rabenhorst, L. Eds) Vol. 11, Teil 5, pp. 641-832. Leipzig: Akademische Verlagsgesellschaft.
Request PDFDescription: Colonial organisms forming a regularly spherical, sometimes ellipsoidal, more rarely irregular thallus, comprised of (2-4-8) 16 to 32 cells. When the thallus is comprised of four cells it has a tetrahedral aspect; at the eight celled stage it become spherical. The central regions of the colony is empty or occupied by cells. Without general mucilage. Cells are spherical or ovoid and nearly always with the same dimensions. Cell walls smooth, without mucilage or ornamentation. Chloroplasts parietal and discoid, variable in number (1 to 12) and sometimes in dimensions; color often very pale. Pyrenoids absent. Cells without oil granules or lipids. Dimensions cell diameter 8-15 _m, becoming 25-30 _m when dividing. Asexual reproduction by autospores; two to 32 spores per cell, arranged in clusters or in a sphere. Zoospores known in the marine species. About 30 zoospores formed per mother cell (5-7 _m long), each with one to two parietal chloroplasts, a stigma and two unequal flagella. Resting stages also known. Sphaerosorus known from soil cultures or from salt water. Species rarely observed, known only from central Europe. Species distinguished based on their ecology and cell dimensions. Sphaerosorus can be confused with Botryochloris but is distinguished based on the very regular Coelastrum-type morphology of Botryochloris. Bourrelly (1981) combined the two genera under the name Botryochloris.
Information contributed by: H. R. Preisig. The most recent alteration to this page was made on 2021-10-04 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 masculine.
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=46512
Citing AlgaeBase
Cite this record as:
M.D. Guiry in Guiry, M.D. & Guiry, G.M. 04 October 2021. AlgaeBase. World-wide electronic publication, National University of Ireland, Galway. https://www.algaebase.org; searched on 26 April 2024
