Entophlyctis apiculata, a chytrid parasite of Chlamydomonas sp (Chlorophyceae)

A chytridialean fungus identified as Entophlyctis apiculata (Braun) Fischer parasitized cells of Chlamydomonas sp. that bloomed in an agricultural pon d in Hongsung, Korea, during 1999 and 2000. This is one of the species for which Fischer described the genus Entophlyctis in 1892. Since the segregati on of the Spizellomycetales from the Chytridiales confusion has existed as to whether Entophlyctis is a spizellomycetalean or a chytridialean genus. W e examined the morphology and development of the Korean E. apiculata with l ight and transmission electron microscopy. The parasite develops exogenousl y and has a monocentric, inoperculate zoosporangium. Zoospores within the s porangium contain a single lipid globule associated with a microbody, a rum posome, and a nonflagellated centriole that is parallel and attached by fib ers to the kinetosome. These features indicate that E. apiculata is a membe r of the Chytridiales; however, zoospores were still within the zoosporangi um and did not provide sufficient characters to determine the zoospore subt ype, which is important for identifying clades within this order.