Fischerella sp. A

Mcgregor, Glenn B., 2018, Freshwater Cyanobacteria of North-Eastern Australia: 3. Nostocales, Phytotaxa 359 (1), pp. 448-450 : 448-450

Fischerella sp. A . Fig. 27 A–F.

Thallus mucilaginous; main filaments cylindrical, uni- or multiseriate, flexuous, entangled, 13–22 μm wide. Branches erect, cylindrical, sometimes with tolypotrichoid false-branching, 7–12 μm wide. Sheaths initially fine, colourless, later thickened, firm, coloured and lamellate, open at the ends. Vegetative cells of main filaments cylindrical to shortly barrel-shaped, 0.7–1.1 × longer than wide, 6.5–13.5 μm long × 6.3–15.5 μm wide; cells of branches elongated cylindrical with rounded ends, 3–8 × longer than wide, 11.2–29.5 μm long × 4.5–6.0 μm wide. Heterocytes single or sometimes two in series, sub-spherical to elongated cylindrical with bluntly rounded ends, in main filaments, 10.0– 22.5 μm long × 6.5–11.5 μm wide, in branches 7.3–38.0 μm long × 4.8–8.5 μm wide.

Specimens examined:—Pascoe R. at Crossing Spring #1.

Observations:—Metaphytic, floating on the surface and attached to trailing terrestrial, and submerged aquatic vegetation, as irregular clumps 3–8 cm in diameter. A species of Fischerella isolated from an ephemeral creek near Townsville, northern Queensland has been reported producing the hepatotoxins microcystins ( Cirés et al. 2014).

Other species known from Australia: F. musicola (Thuret) Gomont (1895) , SE Queensland, McLeod (1975), F. sp., Queensland ( Cirés et al. 2014).

HAPALOSIPHON