| Gilbertsmithia | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Clade: | Viridiplantae |
| Division: | Chlorophyta |
| Class: | Chlorophyceae |
| Order: | Sphaeropleales |
| Family: | Scenedesmaceae |
| Genus: | Gilbertsmithia M.O.P.Iyengar, 1975 |
| Species: | G. grandis |
| Binomial name | |
| Gilbertsmithia grandis M.O.P.Iyengar, 1975 [1] | |
Gilbertsmithia is a genus of green algae in the family Scenedesmaceae, containing the single species Gilbertsmithia grandis. [1] It was named after the American botanist Gilbert Morgan Smith. [2] This remarkable alga has only been recorded once from a muddy rainwater pool in Madras (now Chennai), India. [1]
Gilbertsmithia grandis consists of flattened colonies of cells, termed coenobia. Colonies contain rings of four or eight cells in a ring, akin to beads on a rosary. Cells are uninucleate (with one nucleus) and contain one cup-shaped chloroplast, each with a single pyrenoid in the thicker part of the chloroplast. Colonies are surrounded by a thin layer of mucilage. [2]
Gilbertsmithia grandis reproduces asexually by the formation of autospores. Each cell divides into four or eight protoplasts, and a released via a slit in the mother cell wall. The mother cell wall is retained and becomes angular, and remain attached to each other; therefore, multiple rings may be present on a single colony. [2] Sexual reproduction is not known to occur in this genus. [1]
