Thalassionema nitzschioides (Grunow) Mereschkowsky

Al-Handal, Adil Y., Torstensson, Anders & Wulff, Angela, 2022, Revisiting Potter Cove, King George Island, Antarctica, 12 years later: new observations of marine benthic diatoms, Botanica Marina (Warsaw, Poland) 65 (2), pp. 81-103 : 88-89

Thalassionema nitzschioides (Grunow) Mereschkowsky ( Figure 35 )

Literature: (Scott and Thomas 2005, p. 144, fig. 2.80a–d).

Description: Length 31–36 µm, width 2.5–3 µm, striae (single areole) 10–11 in 10 µm.

Remarks: Images of this species shown in Scott and Thomas (2005) from Antarctic material appear with rather different lanceolate valves and subcapitate apices and may belong to a different taxon. Valves of T. nitzschioides have almost parallel margins and rounded apices. Heiden in Heiden and Kolbe (1928) described several varieties in material collected from Antarctica based mostly on variations in valve outline. According to Hustedt (1958), these varieties may have no taxonomic validity. In the present work, only the nominate variety is considered.

Ecology and distribution: A widely distributed marine planktonic species from the Arctic to Antarctica ( Hasle 2001). Rare in Potter Cove.

Figures

Figures 27–38: Marine benthic diatoms in Potter Cove, King George Island, Antarctica, summer 2015. (27) Corethron pennatum. (28) Fragilaria striatula. (29) Synedropsis sp. (30) Licmophora antarctica. (31–32) Licmophora belgicae. (33) Licmophora gracilis. (34) Licmophora luxuriosa. (35) Thalassionema nitzschioides. (36) Rhabdonema arcuatum. (37, 38) Entopyla ocellata.