Amphipleura pellucida
(Kützing) Kützing 1844 Category: Symmetrical biraphid
BASIONYM: Frustulia pellucida Kützing 1833
LM scalebar = 10 µm = 40 pixels.
Observations
Contributor: Carrie Graeff - March 2012
Length Range: 68.0-105.0 µm
Width Range: 7.0 µm
Striae in 10 µm: 48
Description
Valves linear-lanceolate and very narrow, tapering gently into rounded apices. Apices are slightly constricted. Raphe branches are greatly shortened and increase in length only slightly as the length of the valve increases. A long, low-profile median rib is present through most of the valve. At the raphe branches, two longitudinal ribs surround the raphe. At the distal raphe end, a porte-crayon structure of moderate size and shape is present. A thickened nodule is not evident at the internal central area. Striae are extremely fine and visible only under optimal objective lenses and illumination in the light microscope. Well-organized longitudinal striae are also present, but are not resolvable in the LM. External distal and proximal raphe ends are straight.
Original Description
Basionym: Frustulia pellucida
Author: Kützing 1833
Length Range: µm
Striae in 10 µm:
Original Description
Original Images
Cite This Page:
Graeff, C. (2012). Amphipleura pellucida. In Diatoms of the United States. Retrieved May 21, 2013, from http://westerndiatoms.colorado.edu/taxa/species/amphipleura_pellucida
Species: Amphipleura pellucida
Contributor: Carrie Graeff
Reviewer: Sarah Spaulding
Image Credit: Carrie Graeff
- Median rib narrow
- Raphe branch length nearly constant across specimens from large to small
- Transapical striae extremely fine
The median rib in A. pellucida is narrow and does not vary in width across its length. Comparing specimens from large to small in size shows that the length of the raphe branch increases only slightly with valve length. The transapical striae are extremely fine and difficult to resolve under the LM.
Compare
Most noticeably, the median rib in A. pellucida is consistent in width while that of A. lindheimeri is irregularly widened in the center of the valve. In addition, the stria density of A. pellucida is much higher than that of A. lindheimeri (26-28 in 10 µm).
Amphipleura lindheimeri
Grunow
Citations
Kützing, F.T. (1833). Synopsis Diatomacearum oder Versuch einer systematischen Zusammenstellung der Diatomeen. Linnaea 8(5): 529-620, pls. XIII-XIX.
Kützing, F.T. (1844). Die kieselschaligen Bacillarien oder Diatomeen. Nordhausen. 152 pp., 30 pls.
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.
Links & ID's
Index Nominum Algarum (INA)
California Academy of Sciences (CAS)
North American Diatom Ecological Database (NADED)
NADED ID: 6001