Merismopedia Meyen, 1839
Holotype species: Merismopedia punctata Meyen
Currently accepted name for the type species: Merismopedia tranquilla (Ehrenberg) Trevisan
Original publication and holotype designation: Meyen, F.J.F. (1839). Neues system der pflanzen-physiologie. Dritter band. pp. i-x, 1-627, Plates X-XV. Berlin: Haude und Spenersche Buchandlung (S.J. Joseephy).
Request PDFDescription: Unicellular-colonial; colonies free floating, microscopic, rarely (in several "large" species) macroscopically visible, usually table-like, flat or slightly waved, with cells situated in one plane, in rows more or less perpendicular one to another (sometimes 2 or 4 cells more or less in dublets or quadruplets), squared or rectangular when young, in later stages sometimes irregular or composed of smaller, clustered, table-like colonies; colonies with 4-16, but in several species to several hundreds of cells (up to 4000); mucilaginous envelope of colonies colorless, usually homogeneous, fine, diffluent at the margin, rarely limited, in few species with ferric precipitations; around cells sometimes own, colorless mucilaginous envelopes. Cells spherical or widely oval (before division), after division hemispherical, with homogeneous content, sometimes finely granular or with visible chromatoplasm, in several planktonic species one or more aerotopes per cell. Cell division in two planes in successive generations, perpendicular one to another and to the plane of a flat colony. Daughter cells shift slightly from one another, but they remain in perpendicular rows in a colony. Reproduction by the dissociation of colonies. Free floating in water or in metaphyton, detritus, among aquatic plants, usually in submerged biotopes with numerous water vegetation. Several small species are planktonic, several live in halophilic biotopes (seashores, saline swamps) or in thermal springs. Distribution worldwide, but several species have clearly ecologically and geographically limited areas of distribution. To this genus belongs evidently also "Low GC-cluster of Synechocystis", defined by Waterbury (1989; freshwater, with facultative gliding motility, forming flat sheets, photoautotroph, facultatively containing phycoerythrins in cells).
Information contributed by: J. Komárek. The most recent alteration to this page was made on 2023-03-03 by M.D. Guiry.
Taxonomic status: This name is of an entity that is currently accepted taxonomically.
Gender: This genus name is currently treated as feminine.
Most recent taxonomic treatment adopted: Strunecký, O., Ivanova, A.P. & Mares, J. (2022 '2023'). An updated classification of cyanobacterial orders and families based on phylogenomic and polyphasic analysis (Review). Journal of Phycology 59(1): 12-51.
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Contributors
Some of the descriptions included in AlgaeBase were originally from the unpublished Encyclopedia of Algal Genera,
organised in the 1990s by Dr Bruce Parker on behalf of the Phycological Society of America (PSA)
and intended to be published in CD format.
These AlgaeBase descriptions are now being continually updated, and each current contributor is identified above.
The PSA and AlgaeBase warmly acknowledge the generosity of all past and present contributors and particularly the work of Dr Parker.
Descriptions of chrysophyte genera were subsequently published in J. Kristiansen & H.R. Preisig (eds.). 2001. Encyclopedia of Chrysophyte Genera. Bibliotheca Phycologica 110: 1-260.
Linking to this page: https://www.algaebase.org/search/genus/detail/?genus_id=43071
Citing AlgaeBase
Cite this record as:
M.D. Guiry in Guiry, M.D. & Guiry, G.M. 03 March 2023. AlgaeBase. World-wide electronic publication, National University of Ireland, Galway. https://www.algaebase.org; searched on 03 December 2024
