New oxygen-supplying algae species found in Mahabaleshwar, named after Pune scientist

The new species, named Gomphonema rajaguruii in the journal Phytotaxa this month, was found in a semi-aquatic environment along the wet walls in Maharashtra's popular hill station Mahabaleshwar in Satara district.

S N Rajaguru was a former faculty member of Deccan College and known for his attempts to link biological and archaeological remains during excavations. (Source: ARI)

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Researchers at the Pune-based Agharkar Research Institute (ARI) have discovered a new species of single-cell algae, known as diatoms, from the northern Western Ghats — and named it after a veteran geo-archaeologist from the city, the late Professor S N Rajaguru.

Diatoms can be found in freshwater and brackish water, and are commonly traced in lakes, rivers, streams, rivulets and the sea. Similar to plants and trees that produce oxygen during the process called photosynthesis, diatoms, too, supply oxygen to the atmosphere.

The new species, named Gomphonema rajaguruii in the journal Phytotaxa this month, was found in a semi-aquatic environment along the wet walls in Maharashtra’s popular hill station Mahabaleshwar in Satara district. This species thrived and dominated in the water sample collected from this site, the journal said.

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Rajaguru was a former faculty member of Deccan College and known for his attempts to link biological and archaeological remains during excavations. He had also made seminal contributions in improving the overall understanding of tectonic aspects of landform evolutions along the Deccan Volcanic province.

Gomphonema rajaguruii, the new diatom species (Source: ARI)

It was through Rajaguru’s extensive studies that researchers today have a clear time-frame of India’s paleo-environment. He retired in 1994 as Joint Director of Deccan College, and passed away in December 2022.

According to researchers, Gomphonema rajaguruii is unique because it shows the characteristics of two genus — Gomphonema and Gomphoneis. “This is a freshwater diatom species. Diatoms showcasing such dual characteristics are very rare. It underlines the taxonomic information that can be acquired from such discoveries,” said Karthick Balasubramanian, one of the co-authors of the study and an ARI scientist.

But, the scientists noted, it is still not fully understood why some genus showcase features of multiple genera.

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A few years ago, the Biodiversity and Paleobiology lab at ARI had discovered a diatom named Aghakarii, which had shown similar dual-genera features. “Asia has a huge role to play in adding to the species diversity. Such discoveries can contribute in piecing together the biological past,” Balasubramanian said.

The researchers said that morphologically the new species shared some similarities with species like G. kallarense, which is a commonly found diatom species from Kerala.

Anjali Marar works at the Raman Research Institute, Bengaluru

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