Wollea bharadwajae R.N. Singh (1942: 593)

Mcgregor, Glenn B., 2018, Freshwater Cyanobacteria of North-Eastern Australia: 3. Nostocales, Phytotaxa 359 (1), pp. 448-450 : 448-450

Wollea bharadwajae R.N. Singh (1942: 593) Fig. 55 A–F .

Thallus macroscopic, cylindrical club-shaped when young, when mature a cluster of erect, tentacular, tube-like projections containing many trichomes, ± divaricated and variously branched, up to 8 cm long × 2.5 cm in diameter. Trichomes ± parallely arranged, straight or flexuous, clearly constricted at the cross walls, slightly narrowed towards the ends. Vegetative cells shortly barrel-shaped, 2.5–5.0 μm long × 3.5–5.0 μm broad; apical cells rounded and slightly conical. Heterocytes intercalary, spherical to barrel-shaped, 6.0–7.5 μm long × 5.8–7.0 μm broad. Akinetes spherical to sub-spherical, single or up to 3 in series, adjacent to the heterocytes, 10–13 μm long × 8–12 μm wide.

Specimens examined:—Balonne Minor R. near Miegunyah, Bokhara R. at Woolerbilla-Hebel Rd, Condamine R. at Chinchilla Weir, Narran R. at Dirrandandi-Hebel Rd.

Observations:—This species forms conspicuous, gelatinous, macroscopic colonies up to 15–20 cm in diameter, on the substratum of riverine waterholes in south-western Queensland; due to their size and complex shape, these colonies may be mistaken for prostrate aquatic macrophytes. Originally described from the benthos of ponds and paddy fields in India ( Singh 1942).

Figures

FIGURE 55. A–F Wollea bharadwajae; F Gelatinous colony growing on sandy sediments. Scale bars = 20 μm