Six Species of Epiphytic Algae Phycopeltis Millardet (Trentepohliaceae, Chlorophyta) Collected from Royal Belum Rainforest, Perak, Malaysia.

Algae are commonly referred as the aquatic algae and the existence of the terrestrial green algae is less portrayed. Trentepohliales is an order of filamentous green algae living terrestrially. These algae can be parasitic, epiphytic or free living organism. They are frequently found on parts of tropical plants and rocks. However, research regarding these organisms is still limited especially in Malaysia. Hence, the objectives of this study were to survey the distribution of the epiphytic green algae (Phycopeltis Millardet) on plant leaves in Royal Belum Rainforest, Perak and to recognise the genus and species of the algae. Leaves of forest plants (mainly shrubs) with green or brownish orange spots were collected and examined. Identification of the genus and species of the algae was done morphologically. In the present study, epiphytic green algae from the genus Phycopeltis were collected from 10 host plants. Among the identified species were P. amboinensis (Karsten) Printz, P. arundinacea (Mont.) de Toni, P. epiphyton Millardet, P. irregularis (Schmidle) Wille, P. flabellata R.H. Thompson & Wujek and P. treubii Karsten while P. amboinensis was the most common species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]