Stephanodiscus
Ehrenberg 1845 Category: Centric
TYPE SPECIES: Stephanodiscus niagarae Ehrenberg
CLASS: Coscinodiscophyceae
ORDER: Thalassiosirales
FAMILY: Stephanodiscaceae
- Striae radial and organized into fasicles
- Spines marginal
- Valve face flat or concentrically undulate
- Marginal spines may be subtended by marginal fultoportulae
The valve face of Stephanodiscus species is flat or concentrically undulate.The striae are radial and organized into bundles, or fasicles. Fasicles are separated from one another by costae. Spines are present on the valve margin and a marginal fultoportula may be positioned below the spines. Internally, the areolae are covered by domed cribra.
Stephanodiscus is a diverse and widespread planktonic genus of freshwaters, primarily lentic (lake) habitats. Many species are variable in morphology (polymorphic) in response to the concentration of dissolved silica in the surrounding waters. Rapid speciation within the genus has been demonstrated based on sediment records in Yellowstone Lake, Wyoming.
Cite This Page:
Spaulding, S., and Edlund, M. (2009). Stephanodiscus. In Diatoms of the United States. Retrieved May 19, 2013, from http://westerndiatoms.colorado.edu/taxa/genus/Stephanodiscus
Contributor: Sarah Spaulding | Mark Edlund - January 2009
Citations
Kilham, S.C., Theriot, E.C. and Fritz, S.C. (1996). Linking planktonic diatoms and climate change in the large lakes of the Yellowstone ecosystem using resource theory. Limnology and Oceanography 41: 1052-1062.
Kiss, K.T., Genkal, S.I., Ector, L., Pohner, Z. and Ács, É. (2011). Morphological comparison of two centric diatoms: Stephanodiscus triporus Genkal et Kuzmin and S. vestibulis Håkansson, Theriot et Stoermer. European Journal of Phycology 46, Supplement 1: 177-178.
Kiss, K.T., Klee, R., Ector, L. and Ács, É. (2012). Centric diatoms of large rivers and tributaries in Hungary: morphology and biogeographic distribution. Acta Botanica Croatica 71: 311-363.
Theriot, E.C., Fritz, S.C., Whitlock, C. and Conley, D.J. (2006). Late Quaternary rapid morphological evolution of an endemic diatom in Yellowstone Lake, Wyoming. Paleobiology 32: 38-54.
Theriot, E. and Stoermer, E.F. (1981). Some aspects of morphological variation in Stephanodiscus niagarae (Bacillariophyceae). Journal of Phycology 17: 64-72.