New diatom taxa from the world’s first marine Bioblitz held in New Zealand: Skeletomastus a new genus, Skeletomastus coelatus nov. comb. and Pleurosigma inscriptura a new species

Abstract

Diatoms were investigated as part of the world’s first marine Bioblitz held on the south coast of Wellington, New Zealand, in October 2007. Two unusual diatoms were associated with the red alga Herposiphonia ceratoclada. They were examined by light and scanning electron microscopy. The first, previously described as »Cocconeis coelata« Arnott ex Greville, is a thick-ribbed biraphid diatom that appears to have an undular raphe and marginal septum like some Mastogloia species, but it does not have partecta in the valvocopula. Instead it has short marginal ribs that support a pseudoseptum. Its solid lyre and multiseriate striae with cibrate pores could be modifications of similar structures in Aneumastus aksaraiensis Spaulding et al. It typifies the new genus Skeletomastus which appears to be close to both Mastogloia and Aneumastus, hence the name. The second is a proposed new Pleurosigma species, P. inscriptura with naviculoid symmetry and a markedly sigmoid raphe system with deflected ends. It appears bright blue in darkfield illumination which helped us locate it in other samples from theWellington region.We compare it with some other Pleurosigma species and consider their diffraction properties.