A number of freshwater macroalgae are recorded for the fIrst time from the Maltese Islands.' These are: Tetrasporidium lundii, Palm ella miniata, Stigeoc!onium tenue, Monostroma bullosum, Spirogyra parvula, Spirogyra cf. occidentalis, Klebsormidium cf:jlaccidum, Tolypella glomerata, Vaucheria geminata, Vaucheria mulleola and Vaucheria verticil/ata. Of these the most biogeographically important are Tetrasporidium lundii which constitutes the fIrst record for Europe and the Mediterranean area and Vaucheria mulleola, which was previously known only from Swedish Lapland.peer-reviewe

Lanfranco, Edwin

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The Central Mediterranean Naturalist 3(4): 203- 206 Malta: December 2002 A CONTRIBUTION TO THE FRESHWATER MACROALGAL FLORA OF THE MALTESE ISLANDS Edwin Lanfranco1 ABSTRACT A number of freshwater macroalgae are recorded for the fIrst time from the Maltese Islands.' These are: Tetrasporidium lundii, Palm ella miniata, Stigeoc!onium tenue, Monostroma bullosum, Spirogyra parvula, Spirogyra cf. occidentalis, Klebsormidium cf:jlaccidum, Tolypella glomerata, Vaucheria geminata, Vaucheria mulleola and Vaucheria verticil/ata. Of these the most biogeographically important are Tetrasporidium lundii which constitutes the fIrst record for Europe and the Mediterranean area and Vaucheria mulleola, which was previously known only from Swedish Lapland. INTRODUCTION Knowledge of Malta's freshwater algal flora is still rather fragmentary. The basic text outlining the Maltese species is the list 'of algae given by Sommier & Caruana Gatto (1915) in which reference is also made to the few previous records. Subsequent records of macroscopic freshwater algae are given by the author (Lanfranco, 1967, 1969, 1979). For the purpose of this contribution I have regarded , as macroscopic those algae which have a defmite structure, e.g. fIlaments or consistent gelatinous colonies, visible to the unaided eye, even when determination required optical aid. Several more remain unreported, especially in the genera Oedogonium, Bulbochaete, Spirogyra, Zygnema and Mougeotia which, while frequent in Malta, require the presence of fertile material for identifIcation down to species level. Materials of all the taxa recorded here are deposited in the author's herbarium at the Department of Biology of the University of Malta. SPECIES LIST DIVISION: CHLOROPHYTA Sub-Division: Chlorophytina Class: Chlorophyceae. Family: Paimellopsidaceae Tetrasporidium lundii R.S. Pandey, Tiwari & D.C. Pandey (Plate I) Material examined: Wied il-Qlejgha: 5.01.1967 ·(leg. Edwin Lanfranco); Fiddien: 13.11.1976 (leg. Edwin Larifranco), 30.12.1988 (leg. Edwin Lanfranco & Jennifer 1 Department of Biology, University of Malta, Msida, Malta. 203 Mallia); Wled is-Seqer (Gozo): 10.01.1993 (leg. Edwin Lanfranco & Shirley Micallef (mixed with Monostroma bullosum) .. First recorded by the present author under the erroneous determination Prasiola sp. (Lanfranco, 1967) from Wied il-Qlejgha (Chadwick Lakes) and simply as "palmelloid green alga" in a pictured key to freshwater plants (Lanfranco, 1979) produced for the use of biology teachers. More recently met with at Wied is-Seqer in Gozo, where it was accompanied by Monostroma bullosum, The specimens were deteimined by Dr. Pierre Bourrelly. This species was fIrst described in 1980 from Allahabad district (India) (Pandey et al., 1980 as quoted in Ettl & Gartner, 1988). It seems that there are no records from Europe and the Mediterranear;t area. Occurs in early winter in water courses where it seems to thrive best in slow to moderately fast moving water, anchoring itself to the rocky or other substrates. The young plants start off being tubular, but the tubes generally split to form an Ulva-like body. Material is deposited in the author's herbarium at the Biology Department, University of Malta, at the British Museum (NH) and the Paris Natural History Museum. Family: Palmellaceae Palmella miniatti Liebl. (Plate 1) . Material examined: Wied l1arq Hamiem: 16.01.1977 (leg. Edwin lanfranco); Ghajn Rihana: 24.0l.l980 (leg. Edwin Lanfranco). Forms amorphous gelatinous masses, usually reddish, amidst moist vegetation; particularly in 'small depressions on rocky ground. Not uncommon. Plate 1. Top left: klebsormidium cf. flaccidum (cell diam. 7-8 micrometres); Top right: Palmella miniata (cell diam. 10-14 micrometres); Bottom left: Stigeoclonium tenue[cell diam. (main axis): 7 micrometres]; Bottom right: Tetrasporidium lundii (cell diam: c. 10 micrometres). 204 Family: Chaetophoraceae Stigeoc/onium tenue (C.A. Agardh) Kiitzing (Plate 1) Material examined: Sliema: 29.06.1978 (leg. Edwin Lanfranco) in water-filled bowl. So far only known from one record, but is easy to overlook and may actually be fairly frequent. Identification is based on Nurul Islam (1963). Sub-Division: Ulvophytina Class: Ulvophyceae Family: Monostromataceae Monostroma buHosum (Roth) Wittrock Probably rare. So far only found once at Wied is-Seqer (Gozo) where it was growing in a well aerated pool fed by the water course. Most of the plants were more or less globose and several were floating in the pool. It was accompanied by· Tetrasporidium lundii which it superficially resembles. Material is deposited at the Paris Natural History Museum. Specimens examined: Wied is-Seqer (Gozo): 10.01.1993 (leg. Edwin Lanfranco & Shirley Micallef) mixed with . Tetrasporidium lundii. Class: Gamophyceae (= Zygophyceae, Conjugatophyceae) Family: Zygnemaceae Spirogyra parvula (T-ranseau) Czurda [= S. catenaeformis (HassaIl) Kiitzing v. parvula Transeau] I Material examined: Ghajn Rihana: 08.04.1978 (leg. Edwin Lanfranco). Fertile material was encountered forming pure stands in slowly moving water at Ghajn Rihana. The vegetative filaments had a diameter of25Jl while the dimensions of the smooth zygospores were 42Jlm x 30Jlm. Identification is based on Czurda (1932). Family: Zygnemaceae' Spirogyra cr. occidentalis (Transeau) Czurda (= S. velata Nordsted v. occidentalis Transeau) Material examined: Hemsija: late 06.1978 (leg. Edwin Lanfranco). Record from still water of the 1=Iemsija valley where it was mixed with a Cladophora sp. Specimens seen had two chloroplasts per cell. Filaments in material examined had a diameter of 491lm. Identification, which is tentative since material was sterile, is based on Czurda (1932). Class: Klebsormidiophyceae Family: Klebsormidiaceae Klebsormidium cr. flaccidum (Kiitzing) S. Mattox & Blackwell (Plate 1) [= Hormidium flaccidum (Kutzing) Braun, Chlorhormidium jlaccidum (Kiitzing) Fott] Material examined: Sliema: 29.05.1978 (leg. Edwin Lanfranco), in jar filled with rain water. Frequent in ephemeral water bodies and in subaerial conditions. Identification to species level is tentative, and more than one species may be involved. First recorded as Hormidium sp. by the author (Lanfranco, 1969, 1979). Class: Charophyceae Family: Characeae Tolypella giomerata (Desvaux) von Leonhardi Material examined: Bajda Ridge: 18.02.1969 (leg. Edwin Lanfranco) in karst pool; Ta' Cene (Gozo): 25.02.2001 (leg . .Edwin Lanfranco & Darrin T. Stevens) in karst pool; San Pawl tat-Targa: 24.03.2002 (leg. Edwin Lanfranco & Sandro Lanfranco) in karst pool.The only Tolypella recorded from the Maltese Islands is T. nidifica (0. MUlier) von Leonhardi f. condensata A. Braun, the specimens being determined by L. Formiggini (Sommier & Caruana Gatto, 1915). This taxon has a predominantly Northern European distribution, particularly in the Baltic region (Stewart & Church, 1992) but also extends to reach the Mediterranean coast of France (Corillon, 1957). However all material examined has keyed out as T. glomerata which is much more widespread and is well known in the Mediterranean area. (Corillon, op.cit.). Since the two taxa are fairly similar, the original record for T. nidifica may be. a misidentification, although its actual presence cannot be dismissed. T. glomerata occurs fairly frequently in rainwater pools (kamenitzas) which form on coralline limestones. DIVISION: HETEROKONTOPHYT A Class: Tribophyceae (= Xanthophyceae) Family: Vaucheriaceae .Vaucheria geminata (Vaucher) DC. Material examined: Wied Guno (Gozo): 07.04.1999 (leg. Edwin Lanfranco & Shirley Micallef) in pool along valley. Fertile material of this hitherto unrecorded species was encountered at Wied Guno (Gozo). Material was also collected from a pond at Bugibba on 17.01.2000 by Dr. Roy Merritt (personal communication 21.02.2000). 205 Val4cheria muUeola Skuja Collected from a pond at Bugibba on the 17.01.2000 by Dr. Roy Merritt (personal communication 21.02.2000). This species was originally described· from Swedish Lapland (Skuja, 1964) and it seems that it has not been recorded from anywhere else (Dr. Roy merritt, personal communication 19.11.2002). Vaucheria verticiUata Kiltzing Collected from a pond at Bugibba on the 17.01.2000 by Dr. Roy Merritt (personal communication 21.02.2000). REFERENCES ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am especially indebted to Dr. Pierre Bourrelly of the Paris Museum of Natural History who identified the Tetrasporidium lund;; and Monostroma bullosum specimens as well as directing me to relevant literature; to Dr Ray Merritt who shared his records of Maltese Vaucheria species with me and kindly gave me pennisiion to publish them, as well as supplying literature references and other relevant infonnation, and to my friends and colleagues Sandro Lanftanco, Jennifer Mallia, Shirley Micallef and Damn T. Stevens for their help in the field. (Accepted 20th November2002) Corillon, R. (1957). Les Charophycees de France et d' Europe Occidentale. Travaux de Laboratoire de Botanique de la Faculte des Sciences d' Angers. 500pp. Czurda, V. (1932). Zygnemales - 2nd edition. Siisswasserflora Mitteleuropas 9: vi+232pp. Ettt, H. &'GArtner, G. (1988). Chlorophyta II - Tetrasporales, Chlorococcales, Gloeodendrales. Siisswasserflora von Milteleuropa 10: xii + 436pp. Lanfranco, E. (1967). Some cryptogams met with during recent excursions. Natural History Society of Malta / Malta Ornithological Society Report 1967: 7·12. Lanfranco, E. (1969). A revised check·list of Maltese algae. National Press. 24pp. Lanfranco, E. (1979). Key to freshwater plants. 6pp. (Available from the author). Nurul Islam, A.K.M. (1963). A revision of the genus Stigeoc/onium. Beihefte zur Nova Hedwigia 10: viii + 164 + 47 plates. Pandey, R.S., Tiwari, G.L. & Pandey, D.C. (1980). Observations on two species of Tetrasporidium Mobius (Chlorophyta, Tetrasporales). Nova Hedwigia 32: 779 -787. Skuja, H. (1964) - Grundztlge der Algenflora und Algenvegetation der Fjeldgegenden urn Abisko in Schwedisch· Lappland. Nova Acta Reg. Soc. Sci. Upsal. Ser. IV, 18(3): 465 S (n. v.) Sommier,S. & Caruana Gatto, A. (1915). Flora Melitensis Nova. Firenze, Stab. Pellas. Xiii + 502pp. Stewart, N.F. & Church, J.M. (1992). Red Data Books of Britain & Ireland: Stoneworts. Joint Nature Conservation Committee, Peterbourough. 144pp. 206 

A contribution to the freshwater macroalgal flora of the Maltese Islands

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A contribution to the freshwater macroalgal flora of the Maltese Islands

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