ABSTRACT: Gloeothece linearis var.composita G.M.Smith (Chroococcaceae -Cyanophyceae), earlier known from Wisconsin (United States) and New Zeland, is reported for the first time in India. Brief description, illustration and photographs are provided

Arun T Ram

Athira K R

M Shamina

Swetha K

CiteSeerX

 
Volume-6, Issue-1, Jan-Mar-2016 Coden: IJPAJX-CAS-USA,  Copyrights@2016 ISSN-2231-4490 
Received: 29th Oct-2015                                Revised: 18th Nov -2015               Accepted: 19th Nov-2015 
Research article 
GLOEOTHECE LINEARIS VAR.COMPOSITA G.M.SMITH (CHROOCOCCACEAE-
CYANOPHYCEAE): A NEW RECORD FOR THE CYANOBACTERIAL FLORA OF INDIA 
 
 
M.Shamina, Arun T. Ram, Swetha K and Athira K.R. 
 
 
Department of Botany, Plant Diversity Division, University of Calicut, Kerala, India                   
ABSTRACT: Gloeothece linearis var.composita G.M.Smith (Chroococcaceae - Cyanophyceae), earlier known 
from Wisconsin (United States) and New Zeland, is reported for the first time in India. Brief description, 
illustration and photographs are provided.  
Key words: Gloeothece linearis var.composita, cyanophyceae, new record, India. 
 
*Corresponding author: Arun T. Ram, Department of Botany, Plant Diversity Division, University of 
Calicut, Kerala, India, E-mail: shaminaraj@yahoo.co.in  
Copyright: ©2016 Arun T. Ram. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative 
Commons Attribution License , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any 
medium, provided the original author and source are credited.      
INTRODUCTION  
The genus Gloeothece has 50 species of which 9 species were reported from India [3] [4] [5] [8] [9].The genus 
has only two species reported from Kerala [1] [2] [6]. 
During cyanobacterial exploration, the Gloeothece species has been collected from the rocky substratum 
(epilithic) which appears in dark colour. Earlier studies revealed that the species was reported from planktonic or 
tychoplanktonic habitats. Critical studies revealed that the species to be Gloeothece linearis var.composita, a 
species so far known from Wisconsin, United States [7] [11] and New Zeland [8]. The present cyanobacterium 
was collected from Thenjipalam (110 8’ 11” N 750 53’ 26” E) in Malappuram District during September 2014. This 
is the first report of its occurrence in India and is of great important because the type of habitat is very different 
from that originally described for this species.  The genus Gloeothece can be described by the cells cylindrical to 
ellipsoidal in shape whereas the sheath and colonies similar to Gloeocapsa. The collected samples were 
deposited at Cyanobacterial germ plasm collection in Plant Diversity Division, University of Calicut for further 
isolation and culturing. Microscopic examination was done in the live condition for the identification of 
cyanobacterium. Microphotographs were taken using Leica DM 1000 LED Compound Microscope at 40x and 
100x objectives.  
Systematic descriptions  
Gloeothece linearis var.composita G.M.Smith  
Cells shorter, stouter and in small number of individuals within in broad colonial sheath, cell sheath not 
confluent; cells without sheath  3.0-3.5 µm broad,4-7.5 µm long;  sheaths 11-12 µm broad, 19-32 µm long. 
Locality: Thenjipalam, Malappuram, Kerala. 
Collection No. CU139320  
 
International Journal of Plant, Animal and Environmental Sciences               Page: 41                            
Available online at www.ijpaes.com 
 
Arun et al                                                                                            Copyrights@2016 ISSN 2231-4490 
                                              
Fig 1. Habitat                                                       Fig 2. Gloeothece linearis var.composita  
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT 
We express our sincere gratitude to the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Govt. of India for the 
financial support of our research project. 
 
REFERENCES 
[1]. Anand N. 1989. Handbook of Blue-Green Algae of rice fields of South India. Bishen Singh Mahendra Pal 
Singh, Dehradun. 
[2]. Easa P.S.2004. Biodiversity documentation for Kerala. Part I: Algae. Kerala Forest Research Institute, 
Peechi, Kerala. 5. 
[3]. Fremy P. 1942. Cyanophycees de I’Inde meridionale. Blumea, Suppl.II (Dr.A.A.Weber van Bosse Jubilee 
Volume), 21-40. 
[4]. Ganapathy S.V. 1940. Studies on the chemistry and biology of the slow sand filters at the Madras water 
works. Proc.Nat.Inst.Sci. India, 6: 237-300. 
[5]. Muthukumar C, Muralitharan G, Vijayakumar R, Panneerselvam A and Thajuddin N. 2007. 
Cyanobacterial diversity from different fresh water ponds of Thanjavur, Tamilnadu (India). Acta botanica 
malacitana. 32. 17-25.  
[6]. Parukutty P.R. 1940. The Myxophyceae of the Travancore State, India. Ibid.B. 11 (3):117-124. 
[7]. Prescott G.W. 1982. Algae of the western great lakes area. Otto Koeltz Science Publishers, Germany. 
[8]. Pridmore R.D. and Etheredge M.K. 1987. Planktonic cyanobacteria in New Zeland inland waters: 
distribution and population dynamics. New Zeland Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research, 21:491-
502. 
[9]. Priyadarshani K, Ghadge S, Karande C.T. and Karande V.C. 2014. Biodiversity of Blue-Green Algae from 
Satara district (M.S). International Journal of Applied Biology and Pharmaceutical Technology, 5(3):239-
246. 
[10]. Sivakamasundari K, Gandhiyappan K and Rajendiran R. 2013. Studies on Cyanobacterial biodiversity in 
Paravanar Estuary of Poondiyankuppam, Cuddalore Dist, Tamilnadu (India). Journal of Environment and 
Current Life Science. 1, 36-40. 
[11]. Smith G.M. 1920. Phytoplankton of the inland lakes of Wisconsin. Part I: Myxophyceae, Phaeophyceae, 
Heterokontae and Chlorophyceae exclusive of the Desmidaceae. Bulletin of the Wisconsin Geographical 
and National History Survey. 57:46. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
International Journal of Plant, Animal and Environmental Sciences               Page: 42                            
Available online at www.ijpaes.com 
 
 
 
 


GLOEOTHECE LINEARIS VAR.COMPOSITA G.M.SMITH (CHROOCOCCACEAE- CYANOPHYCEAE): A NEW RECORD FOR THE CYANOBACTERIAL FLORA OF INDIA

http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download;jsessionid=600D2EB1547E7238C103EC30D1A5A76D?doi=10.1.1.1071.2314&rep=rep1&type=pdf

GLOEOTHECE LINEARIS VAR.COMPOSITA G.M.SMITH (CHROOCOCCACEAE- CYANOPHYCEAE): A NEW RECORD FOR THE CYANOBACTERIAL FLORA OF INDIA

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

CiteSeerX