Taxonomic status of Chara tenuspina A. Br. (Streptophyta: Charales) based on LM morphology, matK, atpB and rbcL of cpDNA sequences

Abstract

Chara tenuispina a. br. is an extremely rare species of the genus Chara L., which inhabits freshwater and shaded, shallow water environments on calcareous peat bogs, as compared to C. globularis ThUill., which is a widespread species. To re-examine the taxonomic system proposed by Wood & imahori (1965), who treated C. tenuispina as a variety of C. globularis, we studied the morphology of both species, as well as their phylogenetic relationships, based on three cpDNA gene sequences (atpB, matK, rbcL). In general, the species do not differ significantly in their general appearance, but certain details, such as prolonged stipulodes in upper rows below the branchlet, or the extremely long spine cells in C. tenuispina, may be noted as distinguishing characteristics. In addition, the results of sequence analysis demonstrated that these species are phylogenetically separated, forming distinct clades. This supports the taxonomic interpretation that C. tenuispina is a distinct species rather than variety of C. globularis.

Taxonomical analysis of closely related species of Chara L. section Hartmania (Streptophyta: Charales) based on morphological and molecular data

“…Such results can also be helpful in explaining the phylogenetic relationships between species (Sakayama et al 2002(Sakayama et al , 2004(Sakayama et al , 2005Urbaniak 2010). The large amount of data collected during this study seems to confirm the considerable variety in oospore size among populations of the same species, as has been reported previously (caSanova 1997;bLUme et al 2009;Urbaniak 2010;Urbaniak & combik 2017).…”

O gênero Chara (Charophyceae, Characeae) das Regiões Metropolitanas de Salvador e de Feira de Santana, Bahia, Brasil

“…Alguns pesquisadores como Braun & Nordstedt (1882), Groves & Bullock-Webster (1924), Zaneveld (1940) e Krause (1997) categorizaram cada variação morfológica como espécies distintas. Wood & Imahori (1965), na monografia mundial de Characeae, interpretaram que o gênero possuía poucas espécies com ampla gama de variações morfológicas e o subdividiram em subgêneros, seções e subseções, baseando-se em caracteres puramente morfológicos Borges & Necchi-Junior 2017;Urbaniak & Combik 2017). Esse arranjo embora ainda amplamente utilizado, tem sido questionado por trabalhos com enfoque molecular (Meiers et al 1999;Sakayama et al 2009;Schneider et al 2015;Schneider et al 2016;Nowak et al 2016;Borges & Necchi-Junior 2017).…”