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The transient occurrence during the summer of 1982 of “Planctomyces gracilis” Hortobágyi 1965, originally described as a planktonic fungus, in two eutrophic man-made ponds in Tempe, Ariz., provided the first recorded sightings of this unusual organism in the United States. A comparison of phase-contrast micrographs prepared from Arizona material with archival descriptions and sketches showed agreement in all respects. Transmission electron microscopy suggested that “P. gracilis” is a bacterium rather than a fungus. Notable differences in several traits serve to exclude “P. gracilis” from the Blastocaulis-Planctomyces group of budding and nonprosthecately appendaged bacteria. There was no evidence of multifibrillar appendages or crateriform surface structures in “P. gracilis”; these are major defining characteristics of the Blastocaulis-Planctomyces group. “P. gracilis” is a filamentous and rosette-forming bacterium of unknown taxonomic position.
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