Gilbertsmithia | |
---|---|
Scientific classification | |
(unranked): | Viridiplantae |
Division: | Chlorophyta |
Class: | Chlorophyceae |
Order: | Sphaeropleales |
Family: | Scenedesmaceae |
Genus: |
Gilbertsmithia M.O.P.Iyengar, 1975 |
Species: | G. grandis
|
Binomial name | |
Gilbertsmithia grandis M.O.P.Iyengar, 1975
[1]
|
Gilbertsmithia is a genus of green algae in the family Scenedesmaceae, containing the single species Gilbertsmithia grandis. [1] It was named after the American botanist Gilbert Morgan Smith. [2] This remarkable alga has only been recorded once from a muddy rainwater pool in Madras (now Chennai), India. [1]
Gilbertsmithia grandis consists of flattened colonies of cells, termed coenobia. Colonies contain rings of four or eight cells in a ring, akin to beads on a rosary. Cells are uninucleate (with one nucleus) and contain one cup-shaped chloroplast, each with a single pyrenoid in the thicker part of the chloroplast. Colonies are surrounded by a thin layer of mucilage. [2]
Gilbertsmithia grandis reproduces asexually by the formation of autospores. Each cell divides into four or eight protoplasts, and a released via a slit in the mother cell wall. The mother cell wall is retained and becomes angular, and remain attached to each other; therefore, multiple rings may be present on a single colony. [2] Sexual reproduction is not known to occur in this genus. [1]
Gilbertsmithia | |
---|---|
Scientific classification | |
(unranked): | Viridiplantae |
Division: | Chlorophyta |
Class: | Chlorophyceae |
Order: | Sphaeropleales |
Family: | Scenedesmaceae |
Genus: |
Gilbertsmithia M.O.P.Iyengar, 1975 |
Species: | G. grandis
|
Binomial name | |
Gilbertsmithia grandis M.O.P.Iyengar, 1975
[1]
|
Gilbertsmithia is a genus of green algae in the family Scenedesmaceae, containing the single species Gilbertsmithia grandis. [1] It was named after the American botanist Gilbert Morgan Smith. [2] This remarkable alga has only been recorded once from a muddy rainwater pool in Madras (now Chennai), India. [1]
Gilbertsmithia grandis consists of flattened colonies of cells, termed coenobia. Colonies contain rings of four or eight cells in a ring, akin to beads on a rosary. Cells are uninucleate (with one nucleus) and contain one cup-shaped chloroplast, each with a single pyrenoid in the thicker part of the chloroplast. Colonies are surrounded by a thin layer of mucilage. [2]
Gilbertsmithia grandis reproduces asexually by the formation of autospores. Each cell divides into four or eight protoplasts, and a released via a slit in the mother cell wall. The mother cell wall is retained and becomes angular, and remain attached to each other; therefore, multiple rings may be present on a single colony. [2] Sexual reproduction is not known to occur in this genus. [1]