Trentepohlia

Cladus: Eukaryota
Regnum: Plantae
Divisio: Chlorophyta
Classis: Ulvophyceae
Ordo: Trentepohliales
Familia: Trentepohliaceae
Genus: Trentepohlia

In botany, Trentepohlia is a genus of filamentous green chlorophyte algae, specifically of the family Trentepohliaceae, living on terrestrial supports such as tree trunks and wet rocks.[1] Trentepohlia species form associations with fungal hyphae, and are widespread photobionts in lichens, such as the "secret writing" crustose lichen genera Graphis, Graphina, Gyalecta and Opegrapha.[2][3] The strong orange colour of the filaments, which masks the green of the chlorophyll, is caused by the presence of large quantities of carotenoid pigments. This colour was found to be the source of an incident of red rain in Kerala.[4]

Species

* T. arborum
* T. aurea
* T. dialepta
* T. iolithus
* T. abietina
* T. annulata
* T. umbrina

References

1. ^ See the NCBI webpage on Trentepohlia. Data extracted from the "NCBI taxonomy resources". National Center for Biotechnology Information. ftp://ftp.ncbi.nih.gov/pub/taxonomy/. Retrieved 2007-03-19.
2. ^ F.S. Dobson (2000) Lichens, an illustrated guide to the British and Irish species. Richmond publishing Co. ISBN0 85546 094 6
3. ^ T. Friedl and B. Büdel (1996) Photobionts, in Nash, T.H. (ed.) Lichen biology, pp.8-23, Cambridge University Press.
4. ^ Sampath, S.; Abraham, T. K., Sasi Kumar, V., & Mohanan, C.N. (2001). "Colored Rain: A Report on the Phenomenon." (PDF). CESS-PR-114-2001 (Center for Earth Science Studies and Tropical Botanic Garden and Research Institute). Archived from the original on June 13, 2006. http://web.archive.org/web/20060613135746/http://www.geocities.com/iamgoddard/Sampath2001.pdf. Retrieved 2011-02-08.