{{Short description|Genus of algae}} {{Automatic taxobox | image = Lagerheimia EPA.jpg | image_caption = | taxon = Lagerheimia | authority = Chodat | type_species = ''Lagerheimia genevensis'' | type_species_authority = Chodat<ref name=AlgaeBase>{{AlgaeBase genus|id=43437|name=Lagerheimia|access-date=2024-11-29}}</ref> | subdivision_ranks = Species | subdivision = * ''Lagerheimia chodatii'' * ''Lagerheimia ciliata'' * ''Lagerheimia genevensis'' * ''Lagerheimia subsalsa'' * ''Lagerheimia wratislaviensis'' }}
'''''Lagerheimia''''' is a genus of green algae in the family Oocystaceae.<ref>See the NCBI [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/Taxonomy/Browser/wwwtax.cgi?mode=Info&id=202678 webpage on Lagerheimia]. Data extracted from the {{cite web | url=https://ftp.ncbi.nih.gov/pub/taxonomy/ | title=NCBI taxonomy resources | publisher=National Center for Biotechnology Information | access-date=2007-03-19}}</ref> It is commonly found in freshwater habitats all over the world,<ref name=Bicudo_and_Menezes2006>{{cite book | title= Gêneros de Algas de Águas Continentais do Brasil: chave para identificação e descrições | edition=2 | year=2006 | first1=Carlos E. M. |last1=Bicudo | first2=Mariângela | last2= Menezes | publisher= RiMa Editora | pages=508 | isbn= 857656064X }}</ref> although some species are rare and have only been recorded from Europe or the United States.<ref name=Hindak/>
The genus name of ''Lagerheimia'' is in honour of Nils Gustaf Lagerheim (1860–1926), who was a Swedish botanist, mycologist, phycologist, and pteridologist.<ref>{{cite book | last=Burkhardt | first=Lotte | title=Eine Enzyklopädie zu eponymischen Pflanzennamen |trans-title=Encyclopedia of eponymic plant names | publisher=Botanic Garden and Botanical Museum, Freie Universität Berlin | year=2022 | isbn=978-3-946292-41-8 | url=https://doi.org/10.3372/epolist2022|format=pdf |language=German |location=Berlin | doi=10.3372/epolist2022 | s2cid=246307410 |access-date=January 27, 2022}}</ref>
The genus was circumscribed by Giovanni Battista De Toni and Robert Hippolyte Chodat in Nuova Notarisia vol.6 on page 86-90 in 1895.
==Description== ''Lagerheimia'' consists of solitary cells. Cells are spherical, ellipsoidal, ovoid, polyhedral, or citriform (lemon-shaped), with one to several spines at the poles; some species also have spines at the equators. A layer of mucilage around the cell may be present. Cells contain a parietal chloroplast with one pyrenoid.<ref name=Hindak>{{cite journal | doi=10.1007/BF02538127 | title=Review of the genus ''Lagerheimia'' Chod. incl. ''Chodatella'' Lemm. (Chlorococcales, Chlorophyceae) | year=1983 | last1=Hindák | first1=F. | journal=Schweizerische Zeitschrift für Hydrologie | volume=45 | issue=2 | pages=373–387 | bibcode=1983AqSci..45..373H | s2cid=19485442 }}</ref>
Species identification is based on the shape of the cells, placement and length of the spines, and presence or absence of tubercles at the base of the spines.<ref name=Hindak/> Species with tubercles at the base of their spines have been classified in a separate genus, called ''Chodatella''; however, modern authors do not recognize this split.<ref name=Hindak/><ref name=AlgaeBase_Chodatella>{{AlgaeBase genus | 1=Chodatella | id=43428 | access-date=2023-05-12 }}</ref> The genus is similar to ''Franceia'', which has spines distributed all over the cell surface.<ref name=Hindak/> It may also be confused with single-celled forms of ''Desmodesmus'', a genus that usually has coenobia of four or eight cells.<ref>{{cite journal | date = 2016 | last1=Matthews | first1=Robin A. | title=Freshwater Algae in Northwest Washington, Volume II, Chlorophyta and Rhodophyta | url= https://cedar.wwu.edu/cedarbooks/1/ | journal = A Collection of Open Access Books and Monographs | publisher = Western Washington University | doi=10.25710/fctx-n773 }}</ref>
== Reproduction == ''Lagerheimia'' reproduces asexually by zoospores or autospores. Zoospores have two flagella. When reproducing with autospores, 2, 4, or 8 are formed within the mother cell and are released when the mother cell wall ruptures. Reports of sexual reproduction have not been confirmed.<ref name=Hindak/>
== Taxonomy == ''Lagerheimia'' is placed in the family ''Oocystaceae''. The cell wall ultrastructure of ''Lagerheimia subsalsa'' is similar to that of some species of ''Oocystis'', and consists of several layers of microfibrils. Microfibrils are perpendicular from one layer to the next.<ref name=Hindak/>
Because ''Lagerheimia'' appears similar to one-celled forms of ''Desmodesmus'', some authors have doubted the validity of this genus.<ref name=Bicudo_and_Menezes2006/> However, ''Lagerheimia'' strains are phylogenetically placed within the class Trebouxiophyceae.<ref name=Stenclova>{{cite journal | doi=10.1111/jpy.12581 | title=Molecular and morphological delimitation and generic classification of the family Oocystaceae (Trebouxiophyceae, Chlorophyta) | year=2017 | last1=Štenclová | first1=Lenka | last2=Fučíková | first2=Karolina | last3=Kaštovský | first3=Jan | last4=Pažoutová | first4=Marie | journal=Journal of Phycology | volume=53 | issue=6 | pages=1263–1282 | pmid=28833138 | bibcode=2017JPcgy..53.1263S | s2cid=21278460 }}</ref> In its current circumscription, ''Lagerheimia'' is polyphyletic: some species are more closely related to ''Franceia'' than to other ''Lagerheimia'' species.<ref name=Stenclova/>
==References==
{{Reflist|1}}
{{Taxonbar|from=Q6472018}}
Category:Trebouxiophyceae genera Category:Oocystaceae Category:Freshwater algae