Marine diatom genus Climaconeis (Berkeleyaceae, Bacillariophyta): two new species, Climaconeis koenigii and C. colemaniae, from Florida Bay, USA

Climaconeisspecies (Bacillariophyceae: Berkeleyaceae) from western Pacific islands, includingC. petersoniisp. nov. andC. guamensissp. nov., with emphasis on the plastids

“…She also discussed the taxa illustrated by Mereschkowsky and concluded that there were two similar species: C. scalaris smaller and narrower and with strictly parallel striae, versus the more robust C. fasciculata with striae weakly convergent at the apices. Although the keys in Prasad et al (2000), Reid & Williams (2002), and Prasad (2003) all indicate different numbers of plastids in these two taxa, with fewer than 10 in C. scalaris, Mereschkowsky's report of 20 plates in C. fasciculata, correctly cited by Cox, is the same as she (1979) showed for C. scalaris (10 only if pairs are counted as one H-shaped plastid). In discussing undulata, Cox (1982) referred to Meister's paper but did not change Hustedt's assignment of it as a form of scopulorum when she split C. scalaris out of N. scopulorum.…”

“…Six warm-water species have been added during the past decade bringing the total to 13 currently recognized species (Prasad, 2003), of which only three are reported as temperate (Reid & Williams, 2002). Prasad and co-workers (Prasad et al, 2000;Prasad, 2003) named four species from Florida (C. koenigii A.K.S.K. Prasad, C. riddleae A.K.S.K.…”

“…Prasad and C. silvae A.K.S.K. Prasad); Reid & Williams (2002) Cox (1982) and Prasad et al (2000) gave the taxonomic history of the genus and Reid & Williams (2002) sketched the geographic distribution. In the Bahamas (Hein et al, 2008), C. koenigii was a dominant species in enumerated samples, C. colemaniae was abundant and C. lorenzii Grunow was common.…”

“…Climaconeis frustules can be curved or straight and some straight species have craticular bars on the valvocopula; most species are readily recognized in living material by the presence of a series of several to many large plastids, which are described as H-shaped with a central pyrenoid (Cox, 1979;Prasad et al, 2000). However, when we began to observe species in Guam it became clear that some confusion exists about both the shape of the plastid and the location of the pyrenoid and that the generic description of the plastids might need amending.…”

“…Among the recently described species, Prasad et al (2000) were confident that the plastids of C. koenigii were H-shaped and said that those of C. colemaniae were ''probably'' H-shaped, but they did not mention pyrenoids; nor did Prasad (2003) mention pyrenoids in the two most recent species. In C. riddleae, Prasad (2003) noted ''4 (rarely 2)'' plastids; he did not characterize these as H-shaped and his fig.…”