Myxobacterial diversity of Indian soils - how many species do we have?

摘要

Myxobacteria of tropical soils is an under-explored bacterial group. Results are reported of sampling in Pune district of Western Ghats, India. A number of novel morphotypes were in forest as well as urban/semi-urban soils. There was a high level offloral dissimilarity between habitats. The morphotypes detected in Pune district differed from the northern Indian species recorded earlier. Using a species individual curve on the Pune, Lucknow and pooled data, the number of species that are likely tobe present in India were estimated. A plausible estimate was several fold higher than the species recorded worldwide so far.