Fottea 2026, 26(1):107-118 | DOI: 10.5507/fot.2025.019

New taxa of the genus Coelastrella (Scenedesmaceae, Sphaeropleales) from Warren Prairie Natural Area, Arkansas, USA

Sara Ambrocio Paque, Marvin W. Fawley, Karen P. Fawley
Natural Sciences and Mathematics, University of the Ozarks, Clarksville, Arkansas, USA

Coelastrella Chodat is a green alga frequently found in subaerial habitats that is typically characterized by ribbed cell walls. During our research on the soil algal community of sodic-saline slicks in Warren Prairie Natural Area, Arkansas, USA, we found several al­gal strains with the features of Coelastrella. We also expanded our study to include soil samples from sites in the barrens grassland soil around the sodic-saline slicks, which also yielded Coelastrella strains. There were also other strains that lacked ribbed cell walls but could be placed in the genus Coelastrella using nuclear ribosomal 18S and ITS1-5.8S-ITS2 DNA sequences. Analysis of ribosomal ITS se­quences, plastid tufA sequences, and morphology revealed four distinct taxa among these strains, including two new species, C. salsodica and C. subsphaerica, and two new va­rie­ties of C. yingshanensis, C. yingshanensis var. apiculata and C. yingshanensis var. ovata. C. salsodica, C. subsphaerica, and C. yingshanensis var. apiculata were only found in the sodic-saline slicks, whereas C. yingshanensis var. ovata was only found in the barrens grassland soil. To date, no other Coelastrella species have been found in these sites.

Keywords: Barrens grassland soil; Chlorophyta; Coelastrella; New species; Phylogeny; Sodic-saline soil; Chlorophyceae

Received: July 16, 2025; Revised: December 9, 2025; Accepted: December 10, 2025; Published: April 1, 2026  Show citation

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Paque, S.A., Fawley, M.W., & Fawley, K.P. (2026). New taxa of the genus Coelastrella (Scenedesmaceae, Sphaeropleales) from Warren Prairie Natural Area, Arkansas, USA. Fottea, 26(1), 107-118. doi: 10.5507/fot.2025.019
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