Studies on the cyanophytes of Cuba 7–9

Abstract

The article comprises three consequent studies concerning the taxonomy of the Cuban cyanophyte/cyanobacterial microflora: (7) the “Oscillarieta” (cyanophyte mats with dominant oscillatorialean species) developing in periodical road slimes and pans in Cuba were analyzed.Phormidium cf.formosum dominated in 13 localities from 16 samples,Oscillatoria cf.annae, Phormidium ambiguum andAnabaena ablonga in the others. All other species occasionally grow in such communities. Twenty two species of cyanophytes (cyanobacteria) were found altogether in the analyzed communities. Their morphological variability is described and documented.—(8) A new species ofSchmidleinemaDe-Toni f. 1936 (syn.:CamptylonemaSchmidle 1900),S. cubanum, is described from alkaline swamps in the Zapata peninsula, prov. Matanzas, Cuba. Its morphological variation and life cycle were studied and the diacritical features of allSchmidleinema species were discussed.Schmidleinema roberti-lamii (Bourr.) comb. n., known from Guadeloupe, must be classified in this genus according to the original description. Two taxonomic recombinations are added with respect to the analyzed diacritical features:Camptylonemopsis umida (Cado) comb. n. andHapalosiphon godwardii (Prasad etSrivast.) comb. n.— (9) Three species ofChamaesiphonaceae (Chroococcales), apparently confined, to the tropics, were found in Cuban creeks:Chamaesiphon africanusSchmidle,Stichosiphon sansibaricus (Hieron.)Dr. etDaily andStichosiphon gardneri spec. n. The Cuban material made it possible to complete the descriptions and the study of the reproduction of the species involved.Stichosiphon pseudopolymorphus (Fritsch) comb. n. was recombined into the genusStichosiphon in regard to its morphology and life cycle.