A New species of red alga has been named after our Senior Scientist Prof. B. B. Chaugule | Kumanoa chaugulei new species of red algae from Kerala

 Dear researchers and Students,

    This article introduces Kumanoa chaugulei Jayalakshmi & John, 2021...

Kumanoa chaugulei Jayalakshmi & John from Kerala (Phycologia)

    Kumanoa chaugulei is a newly described freshwater red algae from Kerala, India. This article is published in Phycologia Journal (17th, June 2021). The alga was collected from Idamalayar, a major tributary of Periyar River, Kerala, India, and described based on morphology and molecular phylogeny. 

This is the first study from India on Batrachospermaceae with Molecular phylogeny data.

In the introduction, the authors have discussed Freshwater red algae and Batrachospermales members and on previous reports. In materials and methods the collection site with GPS, morphology, and molecular data methods. The result part has Morphology and molecular data. Maximum-likelihood (ML) tree has been generated using the rbcL and COI-5P concatenated sequence data. Morphological data are given as the description of the new species. Morphological data are supported with some photomicrographs. Photomicrographs of Thallus, Thallus tip, Carpogonial branches, Spermatangia, Carposporophyte, and Carpospore are given.

In discussion, the morphological and molecular characters were discussed in detail. the closely related species have been well compared in this part.

This particular species has been named for honouring our Senior Scientist Prof. B B Chaugule so on behalf of Prof. BBC, AARI teamthank Panangattu Sankarji Jayalakshmi & Jose John.

Content created by Perumal

Click here to check the original article

ORIGINAL ABSTRACT FOR REFERENCE

    A new species of Kumanoa, K. chaugulei sp. nov., is described from Idamalayar, a major tributary of Periyar River flowing through the state of Kerala, India, based on morphological and molecular evidence. Kumanoa chaugulei resembles K. ambigua, but differs in possessing a distinctive carpogonial branch structure. Carpogonial branches were, in most cases, helically twisted with loose or compact helices or occasionally curved. A phylogenetic analysis using concatenated rbcL and COI-5P revealed that K. chaugulei is nested within a clade comprising K. ambigua, K. abilii, K. gudjwega and K. rwandensis. The new species has a genetic distance of 5.8%–6.8% for rbcL and 11.4%–15.0% for COI-5P in comparison with the four species most closely related. Kumanoa chaugulei is only known from the type locality and is likely to be endemic to the Western Ghats of Kerala, India. Further exploratory surveys are required to unravel the diversity of freshwater rhodophytes in this biodiversity hotspot.

To cite this article: Panangattu Sankarji Jayalakshmi & Jose John (2021): Kumanoa chaugulei (Batrachospermales, Rhodophyta), a new species of freshwater red algae from the Western Ghats, India, Phycologia, DOI: 10.1080/00318884.2021.1924511