New Species of <i>Chloroidium</i> (Trebouxiophyceae, Chlorophyta) from East Asia
Andrey A. Gontcharov,
Arthur Yu. Nikulin,
Vyacheslav Yu. Nikulin,
Veronika B. Bagmet,
Rezeda Z. Allaguvatova,
Shamil R. Abdullin
Affiliations
Andrey A. Gontcharov
Federal Scientific Center of the East Asia Terrestrial Biodiversity, Far Eastern Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 159, 100-Letia Vladivostoka Prospect, Vladivostok 690022, Russia
Arthur Yu. Nikulin
Federal Scientific Center of the East Asia Terrestrial Biodiversity, Far Eastern Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 159, 100-Letia Vladivostoka Prospect, Vladivostok 690022, Russia
Vyacheslav Yu. Nikulin
Federal Scientific Center of the East Asia Terrestrial Biodiversity, Far Eastern Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 159, 100-Letia Vladivostoka Prospect, Vladivostok 690022, Russia
Veronika B. Bagmet
Federal Scientific Center of the East Asia Terrestrial Biodiversity, Far Eastern Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 159, 100-Letia Vladivostoka Prospect, Vladivostok 690022, Russia
Rezeda Z. Allaguvatova
Federal Scientific Center of the East Asia Terrestrial Biodiversity, Far Eastern Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 159, 100-Letia Vladivostoka Prospect, Vladivostok 690022, Russia
Shamil R. Abdullin
Federal Scientific Center of the East Asia Terrestrial Biodiversity, Far Eastern Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 159, 100-Letia Vladivostoka Prospect, Vladivostok 690022, Russia
Chlorella-like green algae that reproduce only asexually by immotile autospores or motile zoospores are the most typical inhabitants of non-aquatic environments. They have a simple morphology that hampers their differentiation, but algae of such habit represent a diverse array of lineages, which are mostly in the classes Chlorophyceae and Trebouxiophyceae. One of these lineages is the order Watanabeales (Watanabea clade; Trebouxiophyceae), which comprises 10 genera that share a distinct mode of reproduction through unequally sized autospores. Most of these genera account for a few species that are rarely recorded in nature. In contrast, the genus Chloroidium is one of the most species-rich and widely distributed members of the order. Three strains of coccoid green alga were isolated during a study of soil algae in the temperate monsoon climate zone of Asia. These strains are described here as a new species, Chloroidium orientalis. SSU and ITS rDNA sequence data, morphological characteristics, and life cycle features differentiate these strains from known members of the genus.
