Gomphosphenia
Lange-Bertalot 1995 Category: Asymmetrical biraphid
TYPE SPECIES: Gomphosphenia lingulatiformis (Lange-Bertalot & Reichardt) Lange-Bertalot
Image Credit: Pat Kociolek, Eduardo Morales
CLASS: Bacillariophyceae
ORDER: Cymbellales
FAMILY: Rhoicospheniaceae
- Valves cuneate
- Axial area broad
- Proximal raphe with straight ends
Valves cuneate, with straight or undulate sides. Frustules are never bent or flexed. The raphe is straight and filiform, with straight external terminal fissures (both proximal and distal). Internally, the distal raphe fissure terminates in a helictoglossa. Stigmata are absent. Striae composed of open foramina, which may be obscured externally to give the appearance of ghost striae. Apical porefields, septa and pseudosepta are all absent in Gomphosphenia.
Gomphosphenia contains a small number of species and was separated fairly recently from Gomphonema (Lange-Bertalot 1995). Two species, G. grovei and G. lingulataeforme are widely distributed in benthic habitats of North America. Wallace (1960) documented variation in Gomphonema brasiliense, a taxon now considered within Gomphosphenia.
Cite This Page:
Spaulding, S. (2011). Gomphosphenia. In Diatoms of the United States. Retrieved May 22, 2013, from http://westerndiatoms.colorado.edu/taxa/genus/gomphosphenia
Contributor: Sarah Spaulding - January 2011
Citations
Kociolek, J.P. and Kingston, J.C. (1999). Taxonomy, ultrastructure, and distribution of some gomphonemoid diatoms (Bacillariophyceae: Gomphonemataceae) from rivers in the United States. Canadian Journal of Botany 77: 686-705. 10.1139/cjb-77-5-686
Lange-Bertalot, H. (1995). Gomphosphenia paradoxa nov. spec. et nov. gen. und Vorschlag zur Lösung taxonomischer Probleme infolge eines veränderten Gattungskonzepts von Gomphonema (Bacillariophyceae). Nova Hedwigia, Vol:60[1-2], 241-252 .
Thomas, E.W., Kociolek, J.P., Lowe, R.L. and Johansen, J.R. (2009). Taxonomy, ultrastructure and distribution of Gomphonemoid diatoms (Bacillariophyceae) from Great Smoky Mountains National Park (U.S.A.). Nova Hedwigia, Beiheft 135: 201-237.
Wallace, J. (1960). New and variable diatoms. Notulae Naturae 331: 1-8.