<i>Chroodactylon ornatum</i> (C.Agardh) Basson (<i>Rhodophyta</i>, <i>Stylonematales</i>) in the flora of Ukraine: distribution, conservation and the data on a new locality

Abstract

The article discusses data on distribution, ecology and conservation of the pseudofilamentous red alga Chroodactylon ornatum (C.Agardh) Basson (Stylonematales, Rhodophyta) in Ukraine. The article includes original microphotographs, morphological description, and data on the new locality (Miskyi Stav (City Pond), Ivano-Frankivsk), which is the sixth and westernmost recorded locality of the algae in freshwater bodies of Ukraine. The species has a very peculiar morphology, is characterized by a wide ecological amplitude, occurs in saline (marine), brackish and freshwater waterbodies and is included in the Red Data Book of Ukraine with the category "rare". The analysis of literature data on the species distribution within Ukraine confirmed the presence of at least 39 localities of C. ornatum. It is noted that the species is, on the one hand, very rare in freshwater environments and, it is common in marine communities along the Black Sea coast of Ukraine (with some findings in coastal estuaries and the Sea of Azov). This raises the question of the need for further detailed nomenclatural, taxonomic, and algosozological studies of freshwater populations of the species.