Biodiversity of Trentepohliales (Ulvophyceae, Chlorophyta) in Gabon, Central Africa

The distribution and diversity of the algae of the order Trentepohliales were studied from field collections made in Gabon, central Africa. Both forest and urban environments were examined for the presence of trentepohlialean taxa. Based on these field collections fourteen taxa of Trentepohlia and Printzina were recorded: Printzina bosseae (De Wildeman) Thompson & Wujek, Printzina lagenifera (Hildebrand) Thompson & Wujek, Printzina sp., Trentepohlia abietina (Flotow) Hansgirg, Trentepohlia abietina var. corrugata (Leighton) Cribb, Trentepohlia arborum (C.Agardh) Hariot, Trentepohlia aurea (Linnaeus) Martins, Trentepohlia chapmanii Rindi & Lopez-Bautista, Trentepohlia dusenii Hariot, Trentepohlia cfr. flintii Sarma, Trentepohlia minima Schmidle, Trentepohlia peruana (Kutzing) Printz, Trentepohlia rigidula (J.Muller) Hariot, Trentepohlia umbrina (Kutzing) Bornet. Among these taxa, five are reported here for the first time from Africa: P. bosseae, T abietina var. corrugata, T chapmanii, T minima and T peruana. An undescribed Printzina species was collected from Les Monts de Cristal forest for which more collections and an assessment based on molecular data are needed to assess the identity in detail. These findings suggest that microbial diversity in Africa is still grossly understudied, and future biodiversity surveys of subaerial algae may lead to the discovery of new and undescribed trentepohlialean species.