sul.phur′i.ca. L. noun sulfur (sometimes sulphur) sulfur; M.L. adj. sulphuricus sulfuric.
Cells spherical, about 0.5 to 0.7 micron in diameter, usually containing sulfur globules. Non-motile.
Color: Yellowish green.
The reported occurrence of sulfur globules in the cells of this very small species is surprising; it is the only one among the sulfur green bacteria in which these inclusions have been encountered. The published descriptions are even more fragmentary than those of other members of the group.
Source: Reported only from sulfur springs in Lubién Wielki, near Lwow, Poland.
Habitat: Mud and stagnant water containing rather high concentrations of hydrogen sulfide and exposed to light; sulfur springs.
Illustration: Szafer, op. cit., 1910, Pl. VI, fig. 6.
Genus IV. Chlorobacterium Lauterborn, 1915.
(Luuterborn, Verhandl, naturhist.-medizin. Vereins, Heidelberg, N.F., 13, 1915, 429; not Chlorobacterium[1] Guillebeau, Landw. Jahrb. d. Schweiz, 4, 1890, 32.)
Chlo.ro.bac.te′ri.um. Gr. adj. chlorus green; L. noun bacterium a small rod; M.L. neut. n. Chlorobacterium a green rodlet.
Sulfur green bacteria(?) which grow symbiotically as an outside covering on cells of protozoa, such as amoeba and flagellates. Cells rod-shaped, often slightly curved, greenish. Non-motile.
The type species is Chlorobacterium symbioticum Lauterborn.
1. Chlorobacterium symbioticum Lauterborn, 1915. (Verhandl. naturhist.-medizin. Vereins, Heidelberg, N.F., 13, 1915, 429.)
sym.bi.o′ti.cum. Gr. adj. symbioticus of companionship, symbiotic.
Cells rod-shaped, about 0.5 by 2 to 5 microns, often slightly curved. Non-motile.
Occur as a peripheral covering of certain protozoa with which they may form a symbiotic unit.
It is not certain that this is a sulfur green bacterium: the descriptions of localities where it was found fail to mention the presence of hydrogen sulfide in the environment; this should be a prerequisite for a member of this group.
Source: Reported from a number of pools in Germany.
Habitat: Stagnant water.
Illustrations: Lauterborn, loc. cit., Pl. III, fig. 34-36; Pascher, Die Süsswasserflora Deutschlands, Österreichs und der Schweiz, Jena, 12, 1925, fig. 149.
Genus V. Chlorochromatium Lauterborn, 1906.
(Allgem. botan. Ztschr., 19, 1906, 196.)
Chlo.ro.chro.ma′ti.um. Gr. adj. chlorus green; Gr. noun chromatium color, paint; M.L. neut. n. Chromatium a bacterial genus; M.L. neut. n. Chlorochromatium a green Chromatium.
Sulfur green bacteria, ovoid to rod-shaped with rounded ends. Occur as barrel-shaped aggregates consisting of a rather large, colorless, polar flagellate bacterium as the center which is surrounded by green bacteria, arranged in 4 to 6 rows, ordinarily from 2 to 4 cells high. The entire conglomerate behaves like a unit, is motile, and multiplies by the more or less simultaneous fission of its components.
The green constituents contain a chlorophyllous pigment which is not identical with the common green plant chlorophylls or with bacteriochlorophyll. Capable of photosynthesis in the presence of hydrogen sulfide but do not store sulfur globules in the cells.
The type species is Chlorochromatium aggregatum Lauterborn.
- ↑ It has been proposed that Chlorobacterium Guillebeau be rejected as a generic name in bacteriology and placed in the list of nomina generica rejicienda (Internat. Bull. Bact. Nomen. and Tax., 1, 1951, 43 and 2, 1952, 110).
