Gloeosphaeridium Pascher, 1937, nom. inval.

Holotype species: Gloeosphaeridium firmum (Pascher) Pascher

Original publication: Pascher, A. (1937). Heterokonten. In: Kryptogamen-Flora von Deutschland, Österreich und der Schweiz. (Rabenhorst, L. Eds) Vol. 11 Teil 1, pp. i-ii (Vorwort), 1-160. Leipzig: Akademische Verlagsgesellschaft.

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Description: Colonial attached organisms comprised of 4 to 32 cells not grouped in twos or fours. Colony spherical with slight joining of cells to one another, and a firm, general mucilage, without structure on the inside as well as the outside. Cells 10-12 &m diameter, rarely to 30 &m. Sometimes cells becoming solitary by a softening of the mucilage. Isolated cells more or less spherical with delicate and inconspicuous cell wall. Three to six discoid to cup-shaped, parietal chloroplasts without pyrenoids. Lipid granules and oil droplets present. Asexual reproduction incompletely known. Contents of mother cells divide into two to 32 parts while the cell increases in diameter. Each part contains a pulsating vacuole and a stigma, but the development of zoospores or hemiautospores not well described. The development of the peripheral mucilage has not been reported. Gloeosphaeridium is an uncommon benthic alga in freshwater ponds developing among filaments of other algae (Rhizoclonium) on which they are attached; reported only from central Europe. Starmach (1968), like Bourrelly, does not recognize the genus.

Information kindly contributed by A. Couté but may now be outdated.

Taxonomic status: The taxonomic or nomenclatural status (or both) of this entity is in some way unresolved and requires further investigation.

Most recent taxonomic treatment adopted: Ott, D.W. & Oldham-Ott, C.K. (2003). Eustigmatophyte, Raphidophyte, and Tribophyte. In: Freshwater Algae of North America, Ecology and Classification. (Wehr, J.D. & Sheath, R.G. Eds), pp. 423-470. San Diego: Academic Press.

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Some of the descriptions included in AlgaeBase were originally from the unpublished Encyclopedia of Algal Genera, organised in the 1990s by Dr Bruce Parker on behalf of the Phycological Society of America (PSA) and intended to be published in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

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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 03 May 2024