A Study of Nine Newly Reported Species of the Order Chlorococcales (Chlorophyta) in Hongcheon River, Korea

Abstract

Taxa in the order Chlorococcales inhabiting Hongcheon River, South Korea were collected and identified from December 2011 to September 2012. As a result, nine taxa in the Order Chlorococcales including unrecorded genera Oocystidium and Heleococcus were newly added to the Korean flora: Oocystidium ovale, Heleococcus mucicola, Chlorella mirabilis, Monoraphidium convolutum var. pseudosabulosum, M. minutum, Raphidocelis mucosa, Eutetramorus tetrasporus, Scenedesmus flavescens, and S. multicauda. The morphological characteristics of the nine taxa identified in this study mostly corresponded to already reported characteristics; however, M. minutum had a shorter cell length than the recorded description, Raphidocelis mucosa and S. flavescens were larger than previous descriptions, and Scenedesmus multicauda had larger spines than the cell itself. Eight of the nine taxa were found in planktonic samples, whereas Heleococcus mucicola was found in an epilithic sample. Therefore the Korean order Chlorococcales, including these newly reported ones, totals to 255 species.

Keywords

• Keywords: Chlorococcales
• epilithic algae
• Hongcheon river
• new recorded species
• phytoplankton