Taxonomy
- Order
- Synechococcales
- Family
- Leptolyngbyaceae
- Genus
- Leptolyngbya
Examples of Leptolyngbya
400X total magnification; 25 μm scale bar.
400X total magnification; 10 μm scale bar.
400X total magnification; 25 μm scale bar.
Morphology
Filaments usually in loose flake-like clusters, either floating or attached to substrate; rarely solitary; rarely forming a compact thallus. Filaments typically long and flexuous or with fine waves; rarely almost straight; not attenuated at the ends; not capitate; only rarely with some occasional false branching. Sheaths are produced facultatively, and frequency of sheath production varies with species and environmental conditions; sheaths are firm, thin, and transparent. Trichomes 0.5-3.5 μm wide; constricted or unconstricted at crosswalls; not motile or with indistinct trembling (or motile hormogonia). Cells cylindrical; typically isodiametric or shorter than wide (or distinctly longer than wide, though such species may represent a distinct genus); cell content homogeneous; gas vesicles absent; apical cells mostly rounded or rounded-conical, sometimes slightly narrowed.
This is a large and varied genus, containing distinct sub-groups (distinguished morphologically as well as phylogenetically and ecologically); (further) division into multiple genera is expected.
Ecology
Very common. Reported from a wide variety of habitat types, including freshwater and saltwater; soil, subaerophytic, and aquatic environments; mineral and thermal springs.
References
- Johansen, J. R., & Komárek, J. (2015). Filamentous Cyanobacteria. In J. D. Wehr, R. G. Sheath, & J. P. Kociolek (Eds.), Freshwater Algae of North America: Ecology and Classification (2nd ed., pp. 146-153). Waltham, MA: Elsevier.
- Komárek, J. & Anagnostidis, K. (2008). Cyanoprokaryota-2. Teil/Part 2: Oscillatoriales. In B. Büdel, G. Gärtner, L. Krienitz, & M. Schagerl (Eds.), Süßwasserflora von Mitteleuropa (Vol. 19/2, pp. 174-182). Heidelberg, Germany: Spektrum.