Cytological studies in four species of Pithophora Wittr.

Abstract

, little is known about the nuclear cytology of Pithophora Wittr. Geitler (1936) undertook cytological studies of Pithophora, but was unable to count the number of chromosomes. The only literature available of the chromosome number of this genus is by Noor (1965) and Patel (1971) who have counted 24 mitotic chromosomes in P. oedogonia Wittr. and P. kewensis Wittr. respectively. Sinha and Verma (1968) have reported amitosis as only means of nuclear division in P. cleveana Wittr. Hence four species of Pithophora were selected for cytological studies.

MOLECULAR PHYLOGENY AND TAXONOMY OF THE AEGAGROPILA CLADE (CLADOPHORALES, ULVOPHYCEAE), INCLUDING THE DESCRIPTION OF AEGAGROPILOPSIS GEN. NOV. AND PSEUDOCLADOPHORA GEN. NOV.1

“…Both genera are assumed to be asexual (Möbius 1895, Brand 1902, Ernst 1908, Heering 1921, Mothes 1930, Fritsch 1935, van den Hoek 1963, Soejima et al. 2009) and polyploid (chromosome counts in Pithophora : Geitler 1936, Verma 1979; own unpublished data of C ‐values for A. linnaei ), factors that could account for the lack of speciation within the genera, the low intraspecific genetic variation and the extensive morphological plasticity.…”