Occurrence of Cosmarium species in Khadakpurna reservoir, Buldana district – Maharashtra, India

The present investigation deals with the study of genus Cosmarium from Khadakpurna reservoir, It is constructed on Khadakpurna River of Godavari basin near Garkhed village, Deulgaon Raja tehsil in Buldana district, Maharashtra, India. During this study period twelve different species of Cosmarium has been described viz. 1. Cosmarium pygmaeum Archer, 2. Cosmarium portianum Arc. var. nephroideum Witter., 3. Cosmarium reniforme (Ralfs) Arch., 4. Cosmarium subprotumidum Nordst. var. gregorii Roy et Biss., 5. Cosmarium polygonum (Naeg.) Arch., 6. Cosmarium hammeri Reinsch var. Schmidlei Gronblad et Scott, 7. Cosmarium regnellii Wille, 8. Cosmarium lundellii Delp. var. ellipticum W. et G.S. West, 9. Cosmarium awadhense Prasad et Mehrotra, 10. Cosmarium undulatum Corda ex Ralfs var. minutum Wittr. Forma Suxena et Venkateswarlu. 11. Cosmarium calcareum Witter. 12. Cosmarium furcatospermum W. et G.S. West. All these taxa are reported first time from the reservoir. Such species occurrence in freshwater, hence these water body is indicated oligotrophic or some cases mesotrophic also and it is useful for irrigation, fisheries and with normal treatment it is useful for drinking purposes.