Gonatozygon kinahanii – Real Micro Life

Gonatozygon kinahanii

(W. Archer) Rabenhorst, 1868

Most likely ID: n.a.

Synonym: Leptocystinema kinahanii

Sampling location: Simmelried

Phylogenetic tree: Gonatozygon kinahanii

Diagnosis:

cells elongate cylindrical with with parallel sides
truncate apices
length 150–500 µm, width 10–20 µm
cells often in long filametes
cell wall smooth, without ornamentation
two ribbon-shaped chloroplasts
4–10 pyrenoids per chloroplast
end of cells transparent, often with vacuoles containing some crystals
spherical nucleus centrally between the chloroplasts

I find Gonatozygon kinahanii regularly, but rarely in the Simmelried. Up to now I found exclusively single cells and a pair of cells (s. fig. 5). Filaments with several cells I have not found yet.

Gonatozygon kinahanii can be identified by the smooth cell wall and that not widened or narrowed cell ends. The cell ends are transversely truncated. Sometimes the cell ends are still convexly rounded (s. fig. 1 a). The two chloroplasts are equally aligned in both halves of the cell. That they are flat and ribbon-shaped can be seen by carefully rotating the cell under the coverslip (s. figs. 1 a and 1 b).In the cytoplasm, there are often small, colorless crystals, which collect especially in the terminal vacuoles (s. figs 4 and 5).

Fig. 1 a-b: Gonatozygon kinahanii. L = 266 µm. Focal planes of a single cell on the front side of the ribbon-shaped chloroplasts (a) and on the narrow side of the chloroplasts after turning of the cell by 90° (b). Nu = nucleus, PY = pyrenoids, TV = terminal vacuoles. Obj. 60 X.

Fig. 2: Gonatozygon kinahanii. Detail of the cell shown in fig. 1 a-b. The nucleus (Nu) is located in the middle between the two chloroplasts (Chl 1, Chl 2). PY = pyrenoids. Obj. 100 X.

Fig. 3: Gonatozygon kinahanii. Focal plane on the crystals floating in the cytoplasm of the cell (arrows). Some of them have the shape of square tiles. Obj. 100 X.