Asterarcys Comas Gonzáles, 1981

Holotype species: Asterarcys cubensis Comas Gonzales

Original publication and holotype designation: Comas Gonzales, A. (1981). New coenobial Chlorococcales (Chlorophyceae) from Cuba. Arch. Hydrobiol. (Suppl. 60) Algol. Stud. 28: 213-219.

Description: Thalli to ca 60 µm, comprised of (2-) 4- or 8-celled coenobia aligned in one or two planes as a cross or a sphere, with or without small gaps between cells and surrounded by mucilage envelope. Solitary cells also reported. Cells 7-18 x 7-18 µm, broadly oval, irregularly spherical, trapezoidal or triangular. Cell walls thin and smooth, with sporopollenin and sometimes with mucilaginous bristle-like hairs. Cells uninucleate; single chloroplast cup-shaped and parietal when young, becoming axial and net-like, with arms radiating from single central pyrenoid. Asexual reproduction by autospores; 4-8 per sporangium, organized into coenobia; release by rupture of parental cell wall into two pieces which remain visible for some time. Flagellated stages and sexual reproduction unknown. Asterarcys planktonic in eutrophic lakes and fish ponds in tropical Asia, Caribbean and Central America. Genus assigned to subfamily Crucigenioideae. The single species variously placed in Crucigenia, Tetrastrum or Coelastrum and tentatively placed by Comas (1989) in Coelastraceae. Thalli to ca 60 µm, comprised of (2-) 4- or 8-celled coenobia aligned in one or two planes as a cross or a sphere, with or without small gaps between cells and surrounded by mucilage envelope. Solitary cells also reported. Cells 7-18 x 7-18 µm, broadly oval, irregularly spherical, trapezoidal or triangular. Cell walls thin and smooth, with sporopollenin and sometimes with mucilaginous bristle-like hairs. Cells uninucleate; single chloroplast cup-shaped and parietal when young, becoming axial and net-like, with arms radiating from single central pyrenoid. Asexual reproduction by autospores; 4-8 per sporangium, organized into coenobia; release by rupture of parental cell wall into two pieces which remain visible for some time. Flagellated stages and sexual reproduction unknown. Asterarcys planktonic in eutrophic lakes and fish ponds in tropical Asia, Caribbean and Central America. Genus assigned to subfamily Crucigenioideae. The single species variously placed in Crucigenia, Tetrastrum or Coelastrum and tentatively placed by Comas (1989) in Coelastraceae.

Information contributed by: E. Hegewald and D. Garbary. The most recent alteration to this page was made on 2019-02-26 by M.D. Guiry.

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

Most recent taxonomic treatment adopted: Hegewald, E., Wolf, M., Keller, A. Friedl, T. & Krienitz, L. (2010). ITS2 sequence-structure phylogeny in the Scenedesmaceae with special reference to Coelastrum (Chlorophyta, Chlorophyceae), including the new genera Comasiella and Pectinodesmus. Phycologia 49(4): 325-335.

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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=45139

Citing AlgaeBase
Cite this record as:
M.D. Guiry in Guiry, M.D. & Guiry, G.M. 26 February 2019. AlgaeBase. World-wide electronic publication, National University of Ireland, Galway. https://www.algaebase.org; searched on 19 April 2024