Leptodesmis paradoxa Raabová, Kovacik & Strunecký, 2019

Raabová, Lenka, Kovacik, Lubomir, Elster, Josef & Strunecký, Otakar, 2019, Review of the genus Phormidesmis (Cyanobacteria) based on environmental, morphological, and molecular data with description of a new genus Leptodesmis, Phytotaxa 395 (1), pp. 1-16 : 13

Leptodesmis paradoxa Raabová, Kovacik & Strunecký , sp. nov. ( Figs 1U–Z , 6A )

Description: —Filaments straight, curved, flexuose or wavy, solitary, one filament per sheath. Filaments pale blue-green to dark green, slightly constricted at cross-walls. Sheaths thick, colorless. Filaments 2.5–3.5(4) μm wide, occasionally with necridic cells. Cell length 1–2 μm. Cells barrel shaped or shorter than wide, occasionally longer than wide with central granules in cells. Apical cell is rounded without calyptra.

Habitat: — Antarctica, South Shetlands, caldera Deception Island, mud of littoral pools.

Etymology: — paradoxa means unexpected morphology, changing during the life cycle.

Type: —Strain LK021 is held in the Culture Collection of Autotrophic Organisms at the Institute of Botany AS CR, Třeboň, Czech Republic as item no. 1104.

Figures

FIGURE 1. Microphotographs of different strains that illustrate the morphological variability of four species of the genus Phormidesmis: A–E P. nigrescens, F–I P. priestleyi, J–N P. communis, O–T P. arctica, and U–Z Leptodesmis paradoxa. Scale bar = 10μm.

FIGURE 6. Shape of colonies. A—Leptodesmis paradoxa (6 weeks old), B—Phormidesmis arctica (3 weeks old), C—Phormidesmis communis (6 weeks old), D—Phormidesmis nigrescens (3 week old), E—Phormidesmis nigrescens (9 weeks old), F—Phormidesmis priestleyi (6 weeks old).Arrow indicates the brownish color of colonies which can be commonly found in natural populations under high light.