Histochemistry of the Cell Wall and Septum of Vegetative Cells of Selected Species of Dimargaritaceae and Kickxellaceae

SUMMARY

The histochemistry of the cell wall and septum of four species of the Dimargaritaceae (Dimargaris bacillispora, D. cristalligena, Dispira cornuta, and Tieghemiomyces californicus) and three species of the Kickxellaceae (Coemansia mojavensis, Linderina pennispora, and Martensiomyces pterosporus) was examined. The cell wall consists of a thin, continuous, outer layer composed of a lipofuscin pigment, and a thicker, discontinuous, inner layer composed of chitin. The latter layer produces distinctive septa formed of the abutted end walls of adjacent cells. Each septum delimits a median cavity, open above and below, that encloses a subglobose or lenticular plug composed, like the outer wall layer, of a lipofuscin pigment.