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Cyanobacteria History |
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Lothar Geitler (1899 – 1990) is acknowledged as the premier cyanobacterial taxonomist, based largely on his classic publication “Cyanophyceae” (1932), published as part of Rabenhorst’s Kryptogamen-Flora of Germany, Austria, and Switzerland (Band 14). He recognized them as prokaryotes but described them on the basis of their morphology. Subsequent revisionists have been effectively discounted for lack of genetic or culture evidence (Friedman and Borowitzka). Roger Stanier proposed that the cyanophyceae by incorporated into the International Code of Nomenclature of Bacteria, and accepted Geitler’s morphological work, based on botanical nomenclature as the basis for consideration of bacterial taxonomy in 1970. Imre Friedman, sole PhD of Geitler, prefers Geitler’s morphological descriptions and nomenclature (1982). Geitler himself, and many others have suggested that the botanical nomenclature, based on morphology of bacteria found in nature, should be continued. Stanier and others have favored the bacterial code, based on type cultures and genomes. phycokey currently retains Geitler’s nomenclature. |
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References
Friedmann, E. Imre, and Leslie J. Borowitzka 1982. The Symposium on Taxonomic Concepts in Blue-Green Algae: Towards a Compromise with the Bacteriological Code? Taxon 31(4): 673 – 683. |