''Aphanothece'' is a

polyphyletic A polyphyletic group is an assemblage that includes organisms with mixed evolutionary origin but does not include their most recent common ancestor. The term is often applied to groups that share similar features known as Homoplasy, homoplasies ...

genus with 63 accepted species. The name is derived from the Greek words, ‘''aphanes''’ and ‘''theke''’ which mean “invisible" and “box or sheath” respectively. This genera is

cosmopolitan Cosmopolitan may refer to: Internationalism * World citizen, one who eschews traditional geopolitical divisions derived from national citizenship * Cosmopolitanism, the idea that all of humanity belongs to a single moral community * Cosmopolitan ...

, found in soils, thermal springs and other benthic, freshwater, marine, hypersaline, and moist terrestrial environments. Morphology can vary, with both microscopic and macroscopic colonies large enough to be collected and preserved in herbarium records.

Morphology

The formerly combined genera ''Aphanothece'' and ''

Anathece ''Anathece'' is a genus of cyanobacteria belonging to the family Synechococcaceae. The genus was species description, first described by Komárek and Anagnostidis in 2011 as ''Aphanothece'' subgenus Anathece. The genus has cosmopolitan distribu ...

'' can be differentiated by the size of cells, ecology and colony morphology. ''Anathece'' rarely forms colonies large enough to see and has much smaller cells, while ''Aphanothece'' can have colonies several cm in diameter and tends to have larger cells. ''Aphanothece'' species occupy a broader range of microhabitats that can be planktonic, subaerophytic, metaphytic, epipelic, or benthic. While benthic ''Anathece'' have been reported, they are typically planktonic. ''Anathece'' colonies are less defined and colorless, ''Aphanothece'' colonies and

mucilage Mucilage is a thick gluey substance produced by nearly all plants and some microorganisms. These microorganisms include protists which use it for their locomotion, with the direction of their movement always opposite to that of the secretion of ...

can be found in shades of green, grey, blue, brown and yellow.

Ecology and Habitat

''Aphanothece'' species live in freshwater ponds, lakes and coastal brackish environments. Some species are able to live in extremely

thermophilic A thermophile is a type of extremophile that thrives at relatively high temperatures, between . Many thermophiles are archaea, though some of them are bacteria and fungi. Thermophilic eubacteria are suggested to have been among the earliest bact ...

environments such as hot water springs. ''Aphanothece'' species also live in soil and on wet rocks, these species form

sediment Sediment is a solid material that is transported to a new location where it is deposited. It occurs naturally and, through the processes of weathering and erosion, is broken down and subsequently sediment transport, transported by the action of ...

s on the marine coasts. In oil industry

waste water Wastewater (or waste water) is water generated after the use of freshwater, raw water, drinking water or saline water in a variety of deliberate applications or processes. Another definition of wastewater is "Used water from any combination of do ...

, 40 species of algae including ''Aphanothece'' were observed to be growing in this environment by using organic molecules as nutrients in the summer and winter months.

Taxonomy

''Aphanothece'' is a genus of cyanobacteria with complex taxonomy. Previously, the genus was only delineated morphologically since it was first described by Carl Nägeli in 1849, with ''Aphanothece microscopica'' Nägeli as the type species. By some accounts the genus has 29 accepted species, but work on the taxa since the 1990s reassigned species and divided the genus into three subgenera based on morphological and molecular methods: ''Aphanothece'', ''Anathece'' and '' Cyanogastrum,'' which were later separated into their own genera. In the most recent work on the classification of cyanobacteria orders and families, ''Anathece'' was moved to the '' Prochlorococcaceae'' family as its own genus. A formal review of every species in the taxa has not been conducted, as such a list of the 63 taxonomically accepted species in the

AlgaeBase AlgaeBase is a global species database of information on all groups of algae, both seaweed, marine and freshwater algae, freshwater, as well as sea-grass. History AlgaeBase began in March 1996, founded by Michael D. Guiry, Michael Guiry. Text ...

database are as follows, but are likely to change as more research is conducted.

Species

'' Anacystis thermalis'' J.J.Copeland '' Aphanothece atrocrustacea'' Skuja '' Aphanothece bacilloidea'' N.L.Gardner '' Aphanothece biceps'' Skuja '' Aphanothece botryosa'' Obuchova '' Aphanothece bullosa'' (Meneghini) Rabenhorst '' Aphanothece cancellata'' Zalessky '' Aphanothece castagnei'' (Kützing) Rabenhorst '' Aphanothece coacervata'' N.M.Lemes-da-Silva, L.H.Zanini-Branco & O.Necchi Jr. '' Aphanothece coerulescens'' A.Braun '' Aphanothece cohenii'' Campbell & Golubic '' Aphanothece comasii'' J.Komárková-Legnerová & R.Tavera '' Aphanothece conferta'' P.Richter '' Aphanothece conglomerata'' F.Rich '' Aphanothece cretaria'' Frémy '' Aphanothece curvata'' Lagerheim '' Aphanothece cylindracea'' (N.L.Gardner) Komárek & Anagnostidis '' Aphanothece densa'' N.M.Lemes da Silva, L.H.Zanini Branco & O.Necchi Jr. '' Aphanothece desikacharyi'' Hindák '' Aphanothece distans'' Zalessky '' Aphanothece elabens'' (Meneghini) Elenkin '' Aphanothece excentrica'' N.M.Lemes da Silva, L.H.Zanini Branco & O.Necchi Jr. '' Aphanothece floccosa'' (Zalessky) Cronberg & Komárek '' Aphanothece gardneri'' G.De Toni '' Aphanothece goetzei'' Schmidle '' Aphanothece granulosa'' (N.L.Gardner) Komárek & Komákova-Legnerová '' Aphanothece halophytica'' Frémy '' Aphanothece hardersii'' Schiller '' Aphanothece hegewaldii'' Kovácik '' Aphanothece heterospora'' Rabenhorst '' Aphanothece karukerae'' Lami '' Aphanothece krumbeinii'' Campbell & Golubic '' Aphanothece lemnae'' H.-J.Chu '' Aphanothece longior'' Naumann '' Aphanothece margaritacea'' (Kützing) Forti '' Aphanothece marina'' (Ercegovic) Komárek & Anagnostidis '' Aphanothece maritima'' J.R.Johansen & Flechtner '' Aphanothece microscopica'' Nägeli '' Aphanothece microspora'' (Meneghini) Rabenhorst '' Aphanothece minor'' Frémy '' Aphanothece naegelii'' Wartmann '' Aphanothece nebulosa'' Skuja '' Aphanothece nidulans'' P.Richter '' Aphanothece nostocopsis'' Skuja '' Aphanothece opalescens'' N.L.Gardner '' Aphanothece pallida'' (Kützing) Rabenhorst '' Aphanothece paralleliformis'' Cronberg '' Aphanothece protohydrae'' Häyrén '' Aphanothece pseudoglebulenta'' Joosten '' Aphanothece rubra'' Liebetanz '' Aphanothece sacrum'' (Suringar) Okada '' Aphanothece salina'' Elenkin & A.N.Danilov '' Aphanothece saxicola'' Nägeli '' Aphanothece stagnina'' (Sprengel) A.Braun '' Aphanothece subsalina'' Komárek et Komárková-Legnerová '' Aphanothece thermicola'' Hindák '' Aphanothece trentepohlii'' Grunow '' Aphanothece uliginosa'' W.R.Taylor '' Aphanothece utahensis'' Tilden '' Aphanothece vaginata'' N.M.Lemes da Silva, L.H.Zanini Branco & O.Necchi Jr. '' Aphanothece variabilis'' (J.Schiller) Komárek '' Aphanothece zulanirae'' Werner & Sant'Anna

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q27438644 Chroococcales Cyanobacteria genera