Cylindrotheca
Rabenhorst 1859 Category: Nitzschioid
TYPE SPECIES: Cylindrotheca gerstenbergeri Rabenhorst
CLASS: Bacillariophyceae
ORDER: Bacillariales
FAMILY: Bacillariaceae
- Frustules very narrow, elongate, with drawn-out ends
- Frustules twisted
- Frustules very lightly silicified
Cyindrotheca cells are solitary and are characteristically needle-like, thin and elongated in shape. The ends of the cell tend to be drawn out from the center part. The frustules are only lightly silicified. The valves, including the keel and raphe canal, wrap around each other, forming a twisted frustule. As a result of the strong twist of the raphe system, the cells rotate and twirl as they move. The girdle bands are narrow and numerous.
Cyindrotheca is a genus characteristic of high alkalinity habitats. The occurrence of this diatom is often overlooked because the lightly silicified cells are easily broken and destroyed with standard processing techniques. A motto of Dr. Charlie Reimer was "Think like a diatom", and he preferred to look for Cyindrotheca in the small pools of water that form in cow footprints at Excelsior Fen, Dickinson County, Iowa.
Cite This Page:
Spaulding, S., and Edlund, M. (2009). Cylindrotheca. In Diatoms of the United States. Retrieved May 20, 2013, from http://westerndiatoms.colorado.edu/taxa/genus/Cylindrotheca
Contributor: Sarah Spaulding | Mark Edlund - January 2009
Reviewer: Sam Rushforth
Citations
Hustedt, F. (1930). Die Kieselalgen Deutschlands, Osterreichs und der Schweiz mit Berucksichtigung der ubrigen Lander Europas sowie der angrenzenden Meersgebiete. In: Dr. L. Rabenhorst's Kryptogamen-Flora von Deutschland, Osterreich und der Schweiz. Leipzig, Akademische Verlagsgesellschaft Geest und Portig K.-G. Vol. 7, Part 3, pp. 557-816.
Reimann, B.E.F., Lewin, J.C. and Volcani, B.E. (1965). Studies on the biochemistry and fine structure of silica shell formation in diatoms: 1. The structure of the cell wall of Cylindrotheca fusiformis Reimann and Lewin. The Journal of Cell Biology 24: 39-55.