To which species of Scenedesmus should the name S. quadricauda apply? Quadricaudate ecomorphs of spiny species

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Summary: Trainor, F. R.: To which species of Scenedesmus should the name S. quadricauda apply? Quadricaudate ecomorphs of spiny species. ‐ Taxon 40: 453–457. 1991. ‐ ISSN 0040‐0262.The name Scenedesmus quadricauda is frequently used for identification of a commonly observed freshwater green alga. Many phycologists agree that the name has been misapplied very often in the last 75 years. Until recently we have not realized that one reason for this confusion is that there is no stable quadricaudate taxon, but rather quadricaudate ecomorphs of several spiny species. It is postulated that every spiny species may have this ecomorph, as does S. communis on which experimental data are here presented.