Chara globularis Thuiller

Chara globularis Thuiller Fig. 3 a – d Geographical distribution. C. globularis is a cosmopolitan species (Urbaniak and Gabka 2014). It has been reported from United States (Smith 2010), Israel (Barinova and Romanov 2016), Iceland (Hrafnsdottir et al. 2019), and recently from Socotra Island, Yemen (Zalat et al. 2020) and India (Verma et al. 2021); it is also widespread in Europe (Guiry and Guiry 2024). In Italy, it has been reported from Trentino Alto Adige, Piedmont, Lombardy, Veneto, Friuli Venezia Giulia, Tuscany, Marche, Umbria, Latium, Sardinia and Sicily (Naselli-Flores and Barone 2002; Bazzichelli and Abdelahad 2009; Azzella 2014; Becker 2019; Guarino et al. 2019; Romanov et al. 2019; Panzeca et al. 2021). Conservation status. In the Scandinavian countries, Czech Republic, Balkan countries, Switzerland and many German Länder C. globularis is classified as least concern (LC) while, in other regions of Germany (Saarland, Saxony and Thuringia) it is considered vulnerable (VU) or endangered (EN) (Auderset Joye and Rey-Boissezon 2013). In Hungary, this species is considered vulnerable (VU) by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources IUCN (Azzella 2014) and in Wales, it is in the least concern (LC) threat status of Red List Assessment (Stewart and Hatton-Ellis 2020). Finally in Slovakia C. globularis is a near-threatened (NT) species in IUCN red-list (Hindáková et al. 2022). Previous reports for Sicily. Palermo, Pond of Santa Rosalia (Naselli-Flores and Barone 2002); Palermo, pond of Rebuttone (Guarino et al. 2019; Romanov et al. 2019); Palermo, Coda di Riccio lake (Guarino et al. 2019); Palermo, some ponds in the Palermo district (Panzeca et al. 2021). New reports in Sicily. Curcuraggi (CU - Melilli, Syracuse). Morphology. Thalli are 24–30 cm tall and green in colour. The main axis has a diameter of about 400 µm. The internodes are generally much longer than the branches (Fig. 3 a). The rays are slender, with 6–7 corticate articles and two small terminal bare cells (Fig. 3 b). The cortex is triplostichous, isostichous. It has rudimentary spine cells and the stipulodes are in two rows and are very small, rudimentary, and papilliform (Fig. 3 c). The species is monoecious: the gametangia are borne jointly at the three lowest branchlet nodes; the oogonia are solitary and have a size of about 500 × 350 μm while the antheridia are about 300 μm in diameter (Fig. 3 d).