NEW RECORDS OF STIGONEMA PANNIFORME BORNET & FLAHAULT 1887 FOR NORTHEASTERN BRAZIL

Resumo

The water abundance in the plateaus of the Chapada Diamantina in northern Bahia provides these areas with more favorable temperature, humidity, evapotranspiration, and precipitation conditions compared to areas below these elevations, favoring aquatic and aerophytic species. There is controversy as to whether or not these high regions with a tropical climate surrounded by a semi-arid climate are an alternative manifestation of the Caatinga. In this scenario, this work presents a new record of Stigonema panniforme, a true-branched cyanobacterial species of the order Nostocales, in a mountain area in Serra da Fumaça, Chapada Diamantina, Bahia, Brazil. Sampling occurred by sieving submerged roots and filtering water through a plankton net. The analysis used was based on morphology and comparison with other species of the same genus and varieties of the same species. This is the second confirmed record of S. panniforme for the Northeast region of Brazil. If we consider the northern areas of Chapada Diamantina as Caatinga, as some authors defend, this is also the first record of S. panniforme for the Caatinga. There is the possibility, albeit remote, that this is the first record of Stigonema panniforme var. compactum for the Americas.