Journal of Threatened Taxa |
www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26 October 2023 | 15(10): 24131–24134
ISSN 0974-7907
(Online) | ISSN 0974-7893 (Print)
https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.8177.15.10.24131-24134
#8177 | Received 06
September 2022 | Final received 01 January 2023 | Finally accepted 03 October
2023
On the occurrence of Audouinella chalybea
(Roth) Bory, 1823, a rare
freshwater red algae (Florideophyceae: Acrochaetiales: Audouinellaceae)
from eastern Himalaya, India
Jai Prakash Keshri
1 & Jay Mal 2
1,2 Phycology Laboratory, Cas In
Botany, The University of Burdwan, Golapbag, West
Bengal 713104, India.
1 keshrijp@gmail.com (corresponding
author), 2 jaymal8942@gmail.com
Editor: Anonymity requested. Date of
publication: 26 October 2023 (online & print)
Citation: Keshri, J.P. & J. Mal (2023). On the
occurrence of Audouinella chalybea (Roth) Bory, 1823, a
rare freshwater red algae (Florideophyceae:
Acrochaetiales: Audouinellaceae)
from eastern Himalaya, India. Journal of Threatened Taxa 15(10): 24131–24134. https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.8177.15.10.24131-24134
Copyright: © Keshri & Mal 2023. Creative Commons Attribution 4.0
International License. JoTT allows unrestricted use, reproduction, and
distribution of this article in any medium by providing adequate credit to the
author(s) and the source of publication.
Funding: MoEF&CC, Government of India.
Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests.
Acknowledgements: The authors
are grateful to Ministry of Environment Forest & Climate Change for funding
under AICOPTAX programme (No. F. No. 2018/15/2015-CS (Tax) dated 18th January
2018); support from HOD Botany for laboratory facilities is highly
acknowledged.
Abstract: Audouinella chalybea (Roth) Bory
has been recorded from Phamrong falls of Sikkim
Himalaya. Well developed plants of the alga were
found attached to the stones and pebbles in the running outlets of the falls.
The plants were found anchored to the substratum by spine like base attachment
cells. Such structure has not been recorded in earlier studies. Both monosporangia and tetrasporangia
have been recorded in our plants. This is the first report of the species from
eastern Himalaya and appears to be the second report from India.
Keywords: Himalayan hill alga, new report, Phamrong falls, Rhodophyta, Sikkim.
The genus Audouinella Bory is one of
the infrequently recorded freshwater red alga known from running waters
throughout the globe (Desikachary et al. 1990; Kumano
2002; John et al. 2011; Wehr et al. 2015). The
thallus of this alga is tufty in appearance mostly up to 50 mm in height.
Although blue coloured species are included in genus Audouinella Bory, many
authorities doubts it to be “chantransia stage” of Batrachospermales as no carposporangia
or gametangia have been observed (Necchi et al. 1993a,b; Necchi & Zucchi 1997; Pueschel et al. 2000; Sheath & Sherwood 2011). On the
other hand Desikachary et
al. (1990) have considered all freshwater species as Audouinella
Bory while marine species as Acrochaetium
Nageli.
The genus in
India is represented by 12 species (Ganesan et al. 2018; Koley
et al. 2020). During systematic investigations on the freshwater red algae of
eastern Himalaya the authors recorded a good population of Audouinella
chalybea (Roth) Bory
from Sikkim Himalaya.
Material
and Methods
The
specimens were collected from Phamrong falls of
Sikkim. The alga was found growing on rocks under running water along with
mosses & blue green algae in the month of April. The pH recorded at the
time of collection was acidic (around 4.5–5) & temperature 190C.
The samples were preserved in 4% formalin solution. GWF solution (Glycerine:Water:Formalin::1:1:1)
(Bando 1988) was used as mountant for the study.
Preliminary observations were made under Olympus GB Microscope &
Photomicrographic images were taken using Zeiss Axioscope
A1 microscope attached with Axiocam 504 model digital
camera.
Systematic
description
Audouinella chalybea (Roth) Bory, 1823
(Kumano
2002, p. 51, pl. 26, figs. 5–6)
Basionym: Conferava chalybea
Roth, 1806
Synonyms: Trentepohlia pulchella
B chalybea C.Agardh, 1824
Trentepohlia aeruginosa C.Agardh, 1824
Chantransia chalybea (Lyngb.) Fries, 1825
Pseudochantransia chalybea (Roth) Brand, 1909
Thallus
found growing on pebbles in running water of stream adhered to substratum
possibly be spine like hyaline basal cell
107.75 µm long & 7.67–8.18 µm broad (Image 1C); penicillate forming
bushy growth up to 3 mm in height, bluish-green in colour;
well branched, branching unilateral & alternate both, up to 3rd
order, mostly approaching height of the main axis; main axis distinct, cells of
the main axis 7–13 µm in diameter, 28–80 µm long (4–7 times longer than broad);
terminal cells rounded never acuminate; cells uninucleate with parietal
chloroplast, dissected in mature cells as spiral ribbons; cell wall thin
1.03–1.30 µm; monosporangia abundant mostly
unilaterally inserted towards the main axis on secondary and tertiary branched,
globular to ellipsoid 10.05–12.43 µm in diameter and 15.75–16.35 µm long; tetrasporangia 13.37–15.19 µm in diameter and 16.21–21.24
µm long growing mostly at the tip of branches.
Discussion
Our specimen
possesses notable characteristics of the species that was not mentioned in the
plants described by Misra & Dey
(1959). They have not observed the tetrasporangia.
Moreover, occurrence of spine like hyaline basal cell is a new observation.
This species was reported only once by Misra & Dey (1959) from Uttar Pradesh. Numerous sporangia were
shown in the plant but no mention of tetrasporangia
or other characteristics have been clearly spelt. Although the species is
widely distributed recorded but has been recorded mostly from warm temperate
regions (Hu & Wei 2006; Eloranta & Kwandras 2007; Eloranta et al.
2011; Ganesan et al. 2018; Guiry & Guiry 2022), it is surprising that no subsequent report of
the species have been made from India. We have found well developed plants of
the alga. The needle like basal attachment region recorded in present
investigation has not been found in any other relevant literature. Therefore the possibility of the plant to be ‘Chantransia Stage’ comes under question mark because it
should have a thalloid structure. Tetrasporangia were
also found common. It may be the plant represents the diploid (sporophyte)
phase of the plant. It is possible that the plants are maintaining its life
cycle only in one stage in Himalayan streams due to scarcity of opportunities
of sexual reproduction. Study of the ploidy level of the plant and detail
investigations may put new light in the understanding the taxonomic identity of
the taxon.
The authors
feel that plenty of freshwater red algae including this species may be obtained
from several localities of Indian region specifically from Himalayan streams
& rivers.
Conclusion
The authors
experienced that Himalayan streams and hills are rich in freshwater algal diversity but they are never abundant on their sites. Only
experienced phycologists may locate the plants. So it
appears that our knowledge of freshwater red algae is poor possibly due to lack
of proper exploration and not due to the scarcity of occurrence. This is
because few good papers have come up in last two decades.
For
images - - click here for full PDF
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