Cymbopleura
(Krammer) Krammer 1997 Category: Asymmetrical biraphid
TYPE SPECIES: Cymbella subaequalis (Krammer) Krammer
Image Credit: Ditmar Metzelin
CLASS: Bacillariophyceae
ORDER: Cymbellales
FAMILY: Cymbellaceae
- Valves slightly asymmetric to apical axis
- Valves symmetric to transapical axis
- Terminal raphe fissures deflected dorsally
- Valves lack stigmata and apical pore fields
Cymbopleura frustules are characteristically large and relatively broad in valve outline. The frustules of Cymbopleura are asymmetric to the apical axis, typically with a convex ventral margin and an even broader convex dorsal margin. The striae are composed of rounded areolae. The proximal raphe ends are expanded, while the terminal raphe fissures are hooked and dorsally deflected. Species within Cymbopleura lack apical porefields, therefore they do not produce mucilaginous stalks. Stigmata are absent. Cells grow as single individuals.
Species within Cymbopleura grow in benthic and epipelic habitats and include C. amphicephala, C. ehrenbergii, C. subcapitata, C. inaequalis, Cymbella lata, and the Cymbella heteropleura group.
Cite This Page:
Spaulding, S., Edlund, M., and Metzeltin, D. (2009). Cymbopleura. In Diatoms of the United States. Retrieved May 21, 2013, from http://westerndiatoms.colorado.edu/taxa/genus/Cymbopleura
Contributor: Sarah Spaulding | Mark Edlund | Ditmar Metzeltin - January 2009
Reviewer: Sam Rushforth
Citations
Krammer, K. (2002). The genus Cymbella. Diatoms of Europe. Diatoms of the European Inland Waters and Comparable Habitats 3: 1-584.
Krammer, K. (2003). Cymbopleura, Delicata, Navicymbula, Gomphocymbellopsis, Afrocymbella. Diatoms of Europe. Diatoms of the European Inland Waters and Comparable Habitats 4: 1-530.
Patrick, R.M. and Reimer, C.W. (1966). The Diatoms of the United States exclusive of Alaska and Hawaii, V. 1. Monographs of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 13.
Van de Vijver, B., Jüttner, I., Gurung, S., Sharma, C., Sharma, S., de Haan, M. and Cox, E.J. (2011). The genus Cymbopleura (Cymbellales, Bacillariophyta) from high altitude freshwater habitats, Everest National Park, Nepal, with the description of two new species. Fottea 11(2): 245–269.