<i>Chara zhengzhouensis</i> (Characeae, Charophyta), a New Freshwater Algal Species Described from North China

Abstract

A new species of freshwater alga, Chara zhengzhouensis, is described and illustrated based on material collected in a lake at Zhengzhou, in Henan Province, China. Phylogenetic analysis of sequence data from the 18s rDNA, rbcL, and atpB indicated the separation between C. zhengzhouensis and other species of the genus Chara. Additionally, from a morphological point of view, C. zhengzhouensis differs from another closely related species, C. connivens, in its diplostichous cortex and corticate or ecorticate in based segments of branchlets. Therefore, the results based on both morphological observation and molecular evidence facilitated the proposal of this new species—C. zhengzhouensis. It represents another species in the charophyte diversity in China and the description of this new species provides more molecular data for phylogenetic analysis of the genus Chara.

Keywords

• <i>Chara</i>
• new species
• morphological characteristics
• molecular phylogenetics
• secondary structure analysis