Phykos 47 (1): 64-75 (2017) Algal diversity in foot hills of Eastern Himalayas ©Phycological Society, India 64 Algal diversity in foot hills of Eastern Himalayas-I (Cyanoprokaryota: Chroococcales) Mousumi Das 1 and Jai Prakash Keshri* 2 1,2 Phycology Section, UGC Centre for Advanced Study (Phase-II), Department of Botany, The University of Burdwan, Golapbag, Burdwan – 713104, West Bengal, India. E-mail:- 1mousumi373@gmail.com, 2keshrijp@gmail.com ABSTRACT In spite of being extremely rich in floristic and faunal diversity, algal diversity of Himalayan tarai region escaped attention of plant biologists. Koch-Bihar a district of West Bengal, situated in the ‘Tarai’ region of eastern Himalaya is one such region where algal exploration works need to be done. The present authors attempted to explore its algal biodiversity systematically. In this account 11 taxa of coccoid cyanoprokaryotes were observed belonging to following 5 genera viz. Aphanothece Nägeli (2 taxa), Chroococcus Nägeli (3 taxa), Eucapsis Clements et Shantz (1 taxa), Merismopedia Meyen (2 taxa) and Microcystis Kützing ex Lemmermann (3 taxa). Chroococcus aphanocapsoides Skuja, Eucapsis alpina F. E. Clements & H. L. Schantz and Microcystis smithii Komárek & Anagnostidis are the first record from India while Microcystis lamelliformis Holsinger is the first report from Eastern India. Key words: Eastern Himalayas, Cyanoprokaryotes, Chroococcales, West Bengal, first report INTRODUCTION Cyanoprokaryotes possess prokaryotic cells and happens to be the most primitive group of algae. Though it is microscopic and simple in structure, it plays important roles not only in Earth’s past life but also in present day in human perspective. Members of Chroococcales are the unicellular or colonial thallus without forming any true filaments, sometimes polarization occurs in some forms. Members of this group have been worked out by various workers in West Bengal mostly from taxonomic point of view. Brühl and Biswas, (1922a 1922b, 1923) recorded Cyanophyceae from Bengal filter beds. Banerjee (1936) observed the Chrococcaceae of undivided lower Bengal. Biswas (1942) studied the algal community in drinking water obtained from Hoogly river. Gupta, (1965) while studying blue-greens of West Bengal recorded 2 taxa new to India. Gupta (1975) made new records of a few more species of Cyanophyceae from West Bengal. Sinha and Mukherjee, (1975a, 1975b, 1984a, b) while studying the blue-green algae from paddy-fields of Bankura district of West Bengal. Mukhopadhyay & Chatterjee (1981) made of checklist of blue-green algae from paddy fields of West Bengal. Pal et al., (1986) reported 33 taxa of green and blue-green algae from Murshidabad, 2 of which are new records from India and 16 are addition to the West Bengal flora. Gupta and Sen, (1987a, 1987b) enumerated the blue-green algae of some parts of Hooghly and Burdwan districts of West Bengal. Santra (1993) did comprehensive work on the BGA of West Bengal paddy fields. Gupta and Kumar, (2005) worked out the bloom of Microcystis aeruginosa in Malda district. Haldar and Sinha (2013) recorded certain coccoid blue green algae with some new reports. Dey (2012) worked on the members of Chroococcales in Darjeeling district. Mukhopadhyay & Naskar (2013) made investigation on algae from Metiaburz area. Roy et al., (2014a, 2014b) worked on Cyanobacterial flora of Bakreswar, Panifala geothermal spring. Datta and Keshri, (2014) published a paper on Soil and Sub Aerial Blue-green algae from Burdwan and total 22 taxa where were investigated. MATERIAL AND METHODS The algal samples were collected from ditches, ponds, river, small water body, rice fields, big trees, damp wall, water reservoir, streams, moist soil, and sewage of all the blocks of Koch Bihar district through frequent visits whole the year round (Map-1). The collected samples were preserved in FAA/ 5% formalin at the collection spot in plastic bags with zipper. Then the samples were tagged and also ecological notes like colour of samples, pH, attached condition, temperature, habitat, habit were taken at the time of collection. All the preserved samples are deposited in Algae herbarium of Botany Department, The University of Burdwan (BURD). After bringing the collected specimens in the laboratory all the samples were stored in 60 ml amber coloured vials with proper labeling for further workout. Proper figures of the desired algal samples were drawn under appropriate magnifications with the help of a drawing prism considering all the features present there in. Measurements were taken properly with an ocular scale fitted within the