Occurrence of Microalgae in Aquatic Ecosystems with a Description of Three New Species, Prototheca fontanea, Prototheca lentecrescens, and Prototheca vistulensis.

species are unicellular, nonphotosynthetic, saprophytic, and occasionally pathogenic, microalgae, with an extensive environmental reservoir. This study explores, for the first time, the occurrence of in aquatic ecosystems by using a molecular profiling approach. A total of 362 samples were collected from 80 natural and artificial waterbodies at 88 sampling sites in 26 localities across Poland during a 1.