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Nova Hedwigia, Beiheft 146, p. 175–196 Stuttgart, December 2017
Diversity of Luticola D.G. Mann (Bacillariophyceae) species on halomorphic soils from Gladno Pole, Central Macedonia Zlatko Levkov1,2*, Slavica Tofilovska1, Carlos E. Wetzel3, Danijela Mitić-Kopanja1 & Luc Ector3 Institute of Biology, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Arhimedova 3, Skopje, Republic of Macedonia Macedonian Ecological Society, Arhimedova 3, Skopje, Republic of Macedonia 3 Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology (LIST), Environmental Research and Innovation (ERIN) Department, 41 rue du Brill, 4422 Belvaux, Grand-duchy of Luxembourg * Corresponding author:
[email protected] 1 2
With 206 figures Abstract: Halomorphic soils are present only on a few localities in the Republic of Macedonia, and have been infrequently investigated for diatom composition. In the last two years, special attention has been paid to these habitats and observations revealed the existence of a high diversity in diatoms. One of the genera that showed considerable diversity was Luticola, with the presence of seven species, including four described as new. The new species were observed using light and scanning electron microscopy and compared to other morphologically similar species. Luticola lecohui sp. nov. is characterized by distinctly triundulate valves and subcapitate and broady rounded apices. Valves of L. blancoi sp. nov. are linearlanceolate with slightly undulated margins and distinctly protracted and subcapitate apices. Luticola dubia sp. nov. appears similar to L. ventricosa, but both taxa can be easily differentiated by the shape of the valve apices (rostrate in L. dubia). Luticola obscura sp. nov. has similar valve shape (linear-lanceolate with rostrate apices), as L. imbricata, but both species can be differentiated from one another by the shape of the valve apices and external proximal and distal raphe endings. Key words: Luticola, Gladno Pole, Macedonia, new species, halomorphic soils, extreme environments Received on 11th August 2016, revised manuscript accepted on 28th March 2017
Introduction The genus Luticola D.G. Mann in Round et al. (1990) is highly diverse in valve morphology as well as habitats where the species occur. Almost 20 years ago it was considered as a relatively small and widely disperse section (Naviculae punctatae) with marine taxa, as well as numerous freshwater species having a cosmopolitan or very limited distribution (Hustedt 1964). Luticola species inhabit subaerial habitats, freshwater rivers, lakes, estuaries and even coastal waters. The genus is also aerophilic and characteristic of soil, and moss habitats (Kociolek & Spaulding 2003). The areas with high Luticola species diversity are located in the southern hemisphere within tropical and subtropical areas (Cholnoky 1954, 1966, Metzeltin et al. 2005) and the (sub-) Antarctic (Van de Vijver et al. 2006, 2011, Esposito et al. 2008, Van de Vijver & Mataloni 2008, Kopalová et al. 2009, 2011, Zidarova et al. 2014, Kohler et al. 2015). However, considerable diversity has been observed in subaerial habitats across Europe (Bock 1963, 1970, Denys & De Smet 1996, Poulíčková 2008, Pavlov et al. 2009) with almost 30 Luticola species documented. Recently, a large scale revision of the genus was performed representing around 200 species (Levkov et al. 2013). The species have been clustered into 17 groups based on their valve outline and shape of the valve apices. Such separation was made only for identification purposes, © 2017 J. Cramer in der Gebr. Borntraeger Verlagsbuchhandlung, Stuttgart, Germany
DOI 10.1127/1438-9134/2017/175
www.borntraeger-cramer.de
1438-9134/2017/175 $ 5.50
