Morphology and Phylogeny of a Japanese Strain of Chlamydomonas augustae (Volvocales, Chlorophyceae)

Abstract

Chlamydomonas augustae (Volvocales, Chlorophyceae) is a unicellular biflagellate alga, with a stellate chloroplast containing a pyrenoid. Based on light microscopy and 18S rRNA gene phylogeny, a strain isolated from a paddy field in Chiba, Japan, was identified as this species, which had not previously been recorded in Japan. This Japanese strain was more closely related to the geographically distant European strains than to the Asian (Indonesian) strain.