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Stichosiphon

Generic name: STICHOSIPHON Geitler, 1932. Rabenhorst´s Kryptogamenfl. Deutschl., ed. 2, 14: 411.
Synonyms: [Drouet & Daily, 1956; identical]
Diagnosis:
Type species: Stichosiphon regularis Geitler 1932 
Descriptions:
Komárek & Anagnostidis (1998): Cells solitary or in groups, more or less short cylindrical or club-shaped; heteropolar, elongate, attached by one end to the substrate usually by a mucilaginous pad, very soon (during the cell development) dividing transversely and successively into uniseriate, cylindrical, straight or curved, pseudofilamentous rows of numerous exocytes (sometimes very long), enveloped by firm, colourless sheath (pseudovagina), which later opens at the apex; exocytes remain for long time in pseudofilamentous formations. Cell content pale blue-geen, greyish blue, olive-green, sometimes with visible keritomy (position of thylakoids
in fascicles throughout the whole cell) and solitary granules.
Komárek (1992): Unicellular; cells elongated, always polarized, attached to the substrate by their basal ends by help of a morphologically diversified pad, which is the basal part of the firm, thin, usually layered sheath (pseudovagina), solitary or in groups; young cells oval, cylindrical or obovate, which start usually very soon divide into a row of exocytes forming the long pseudofilaments within the mother sheaths (adult individuals); pseudovaginas are open at the apical ends. Cell content pale blue-green, cells sometimes with several prominent granules, thylakoids more or less coiled, distributed all over the cell (generic character ?).
Genotype differences, molecular data:
Reproduction strategies, life cycles, cell division:
Komárek & Anagnostidis (1998): Cell division by repeated binary fission, transverse to the longer (vertical) axis into a row of more or less short cylindrical or discoidal exocytes, liberating at the apex from the opened sheath (pseudovagina); separated exocytes in pseudofilaments are able to divide repeatedly. The exocytes are attached to the substrate by one end (of the elongated exocyte) and grow into a new cell along the original exocyte long axis. (According to special cytology and biology probably a special cyanoprokaryotic type.)
Komárek (1992): Cell division always only perpendicularly to the long axes of the attached individuals; first division is more or less asymmetrical, dividing the upper part from the basal cell; then the upper exocyte(s) grow continually and divide successively (the formed exocytes divide repeatedly within'the mother sheath); this process results into a row of exocytes forming the pseudofilament. Single exocytes or their clustered groups (in S. indicus) liberate from the open sheath at the free, apical end. Exocytes are polarized, join to the substrate by the one end (in comparison with the orientation within the mother sheath) and start to grow at the opposite apical end.
Ultrastructure:
Taxonomic position, higher hierarchy:
Cyanophyceae, Chroococcales, Chamaesiphonaceae
Notes to taxonomy, misinterpretations:
Ecology, ecophysiology, ecological significance:
Komárek (1992): Majority of species was described from different tropical regions, where they grow epiphytically on other algae and submerged water plants. The most common type species, S. sansibaricus, has pantropical distribution, but it was found also in basins with thermal water and tropical water plants in temperate zone. One species is known from Himalayas, another one grows on stones in Alpine creeks in the European high mountain areas.
Physiology and biochemistry:
Distribution, endemism, problematic citations:
Reference strain:
Infrageneric scheme, species concept:
List of species:
Stichosiphon exiguus Montejano et al. 1997
Stichosiphon filamentosus (Ghose) Geitler 1932
Stichosiphon gardneri Komárek 1989
Stichosiphon himalayensis Jao et Zhu 1974
Stichosiphon indicus Rao 1953
Stichosiphon mangle Branco et al. 1994
Stichosiphon pseudopolymorphus (Fritsch) Komárek 1989
Stichosiphon regularis Geitler 1932
Stichosiphon sansibaricus (Hieronymus) Drouet et Daily 1956
Stichosiphon skujae Montejano et al. 1996
Stichosiphon willei (Gardner) Komárek et Anagnostidis 1995
Keys:
List of stains:
Drawings:
Application technology:
Literature:

  2.1 taxonomy: Geitler 1932, Geitler 1942, Skuja 1949, Drouet & Daily 1956, Kann 1972, Sarma 1981, Hindák 1983; Komárek et al. 1985, Komárek & Anagnostidis 1986, Komárek 1989, Komárek 1992, Montejano & al. 1996, Komárek & Anagnostidis 1998
  2.2 cytomorphology:
  2.3 16S rRNA sequencing:
  2.4 biology and life cycles:
  2.5 ecology: