New species of dictyostelid cellular slime moulds from Australia
John C. Landolt A , James C. Cavender B , Steven L. Stephenson C E and Eduardo M. Vadell DA Department of Biology, Shepherd University, Shepherdstown, West Virginia 25443, USA.
B Department of Environmental and Plant Biology, Ohio University, Athens, Ohio 45701, USA.
C Department of Biological Sciences, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, Arkansas 72701, USA.
D Universidad de Buenos Aires, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Departamento Ciencias Biologicas – Pabellon II, 1428 Buenos Aires, Argentina.
E Corresponding author. Email: slsteph@uark.edu
Australian Systematic Botany 21(1) 50-66 https://doi.org/10.1071/SB07040
Submitted: 27 September 2007 Accepted: 18 February 2008 Published: 3 April 2008
Abstract
During the 2001–2006 field seasons, samples for isolation of dictyostelid cellular slime moulds were collected at several localities in Queensland, the Northern Territory, Western Australia and Victoria. The majority of these samples were collected from the soil–litter layer on the ground, but some additional samples were obtained from the layer of organic matter (‘canopy soil’) associated with the bases of vascular epiphytes on the trunks and branches of trees in the tropical forests of northern Queensland. Many of the forms recovered from these samples could be assigned to described taxa, including such cosmopolitan species as Dictyostelium mucoroides, Polysphondylium pallidum, P. violaceum and D. giganteum. However, several others appear to represent new species, and eight of these (D. boomeransporum, D. flexuosum, D. granulosum, D. myxobasis, D. radiculatum, D. rotatum, P. australicum and P. stolonicoideum) are described herein. The large number of apparently undescribed forms suggests that the dictyostelid biota of Australia is relatively distinct when compared with that of any other continent.
Acknowledgements
The research reported herein was carried out in the context of several projects supported in part by grants from the National Science Foundation (DEB-0316284), the Australian Biological Resources Study Participatory Program and Shepherd University. Appreciation is extended to Dawn Black, Alex Brims, Margaret Brims and Ceri Pearce for assisting with the field work.
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