Coccomyxa antarctica sp. nov. from the Antarctic lichen Usnea aurantiacoatra

The single celled green alga Shunan Cao & Qiming Zhou, was isolated from the Antarctic torrential lichen (Jacq.) Bory. It is described and illustrated based on a comprehensive study of its morphology, ultrastructure, ecology and phylogeny. is a lichenicolous alga which has elongated cells and contains a parietal chloroplast as observed under the microscope. is clearly different from other species by phylogenetic analysis (ITS rDNA and SSU rDNA sequences), also it differs from its phylogenetic closely species by its larger cell size.