Lemanea manipurensis sp. nov. (Batrachospermales), a freshwater red algal species from North-East India

Abstract

A new macroscopic riverine red algal species, Lemanea manipurensis sp. nov. (Batrachospermales) is described from Manipur in northeast India. It has a sparsely branched, pseudoparenchymatous thallus with a single, central axial filament that lacks cortical filaments. Spermatangia occur generally in isolated, low and indistinct patches or form an almost continuous ring around the axis. Carposporophytes project into the hollow thallus cavity without an ostiole. The most striking morphological feature is the carposporophyte with very short gonimoblast filaments having cylindrical, narrow and sparsely branched sterile filaments, the terminal cell of each branch with a single, large, elongate carpospore. The widely distributed L. fluviatilis has spherical carpospores in long branched chains. Phylogenetic analysis of rbcL sequence data and comparison with other Batrachospermales clearly show that our specimens do not align with other species of Lemanea and Paralemanea investigated thus far. Five specific names attributed in previous literature to Lemanea from Manipur, L. australis, L. catenata, L. fluviatilis, L. mamillosa, and L. torulosa are rejected until critical anatomical and molecular evidence is available for specimens from the Manipur river systems. Taxa referable to Paralemanea were not confirmed for India in this study. In view of the high demand for food and medical uses of L. manipurensis in northeast India, conservation measures are needed for its long term survival. The present paper constitutes the first combined morphological / molecular study on a freshwater red alga from India.

Phylogeny and morphology of the freshwater red alga Nemalionopsis shawii (Rhodophyta, Thoreales) from Nepal

“…For microscopic observations, mounting media including stains were prepared as follows: (i) 0.02% aniline blue WS in 50% corn syrup and 0.5% phenol (Ganesan et al . ), specimens added for 30 min, removing water carefully with blotting paper, adding a drop of mounting medium and arranging the specimens with fine needle and forceps tips; (ii) a double staining of 1% aqueous methylene blue (Grimstone & Skaer ) and 1% alcian blue (Sheath & Cole ) by placing small pieces for 10 min in each solution. Surface views, cross and longitudinal sections were prepared on microscope slides after staining.…”

Multifaceted characterization of a Lemanea fluviatilis population (Batrachospermales, Rhodophyta) from a glacial stream in the south-eastern Alps

“…Lemanea appears to be widely distributed in boreal and temperate regions of North America (e.g., ViS & Sheath 1992), and in fast-flowing streams in Europe (e.g., eloranta & KwandranS 2007; Kučera et al 2008;eloranta et al 2011, 2016. It has been frequently reported from India, but appears to be localized to Manipur state (GaneSan et al 2015). In addition, this genus has been infrequently reported from China (Xie et al 2004).…”

“…In addition, this genus has been infrequently reported from China (Xie et al 2004). L. fluviatilis has been frequently reported from Europe, North America and India (ViS & Sheath 1992;eloranta et al 2011;GaneSan et al 2015 and the references therein).…”

“…There have been a few applied studies of Lemanea in India ranging from use as an herbal remedy, diabetes treatment and biofuel production (GaneSan et al 2015 There have been a few studies of the ecophysiology of this genus primarily relating temperature and current velocity to chlorophyll a, dry mass and carbon assimilation as measures of vigor and growth (Thirb & BenSon-EVanS 1982, 1984. To our knowledge, there have been no studies regarding the lipid content of this taxon and how this may relate to thermal niche.…”

Thorea indica sp. nov. (Thoreales, Rhodophyta) from Uttar Pradesh, India

“…As a rule, twenty measurements or counts were taken for each character in each sample (Necchi and Zucchi 1997). For microscopic observations mounting media including stains were prepared as follows: 1) 0.02% aniline blue WS in 50% corn syrup and 0.5% phenol (Ganesan et al 2015), specimens added for 30 min, removing water carefully with blotting paper, adding a drop of mounting medium and arranging the specimens with a fine needle and forceps tip; 2) a double staining of 1% aqueous methylene blue (Grimstone and Skaer 1972) and 1% alcian blue (Sheath and Cole 1990) by placing small pieces for 10 min in each solution. Surface views, cross and longitudinal sections were prepared on microscope slides after staining.…”