Asterochloris Tschermak-Woess, 1980

Holotype species: Asterochloris phycobiontica E.Tschermak-Woess

Original publication and holotype designation: Tschermak-Woess, E. (1980). Asterochloris phycobiontica, gen. et spec. nov., der phycobiont der Flechte Varicellaria carneonivea. Plant Systematics and Evolution 135: 279-294.

Description: Vegetative cells solitary, ellipsoidal or pear-shaped, only spherical when young, (2.5-)7-26(-30) µm in diameter. Cell wall thin (0.5-1 µm thick), but occasionally thicker in older cells (up to 3 µm), only rarely slightly thickened on one side, without gelatinous coating. Chloroplast immediately before protoplast division always parietal and barely lobed, also in aplano- and zoospores, in adult cells either walls are smooth or folded with very deep constrictions, with one or more pyrenoids with an indistinct pyrenoid matrix. Starch mostly as granular stromal starch distributed throughout the chloroplast, sometimes concentrated around the pyrenoid. A cell nucleus with a clearly recognizable nucleolus is always (except in A. magna) lying eccentrically in a clear indentation of the chloroplast. Asexual reproduction by aplano- and naked, biflagellate zoospores with or without stigma.

Information contributed by: Beck (2002: 87-88, from the German). The most recent alteration to this page was made on 2024-02-11 by M.D. Guiry.

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

Most recent taxonomic treatment adopted: Skaloud, P. & Peksa, O. (2010). Evolutionary inferences based on ITS rDNA and actin sequences reveal extensive diversity of the common lichen alga Asterochloris (Trebouxiophyceae, Chlorophyta). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 54: 36-46.

Comments: Gamete fusion has only been reported by a few authors (AHMADJIAN, 1967; GALLÉ, 1968), but is doubted by others (e.g. GÄRTNER, 1985a). Colonies on agar bumpy, granular, dull, chlorophyll green. Photobionts of many lichens, including the genera Anzina, Cladia, Cladonia, Diploschistes, Lepraria, Pilophorus, Pycnothelia, Stereocaulon,. Emend. Skaloud et Peksa (2015: 516).Widely distributed, cosmopolitan.

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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Some of the descriptions included in AlgaeBase were originally from the unpublished Encyclopedia of Algal Genera, organised in the 1990s by Dr Bruce Parker on behalf of the Phycological Society of America (PSA) and intended to be published in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=45140

Citing AlgaeBase
Cite this record as:
M.D. Guiry in Guiry, M.D. & Guiry, G.M. 11 February 2024. AlgaeBase. World-wide electronic publication, National University of Ireland, Galway. https://www.algaebase.org; searched on 19 April 2024