Studies on type material from Kützing’s diatom collection V – two new synonyms of Ulnaria vitrea (Kützing) E. Reichardt: Synedra mesocampa Brébisson in Kützing and Synedra tenuis Kützing

Abstract

This short paper discusses two new synonyms of Ulnaria vitrea: Synedra mesocampa Brébisson in Kützing and Synedra tenuis Kützing. The data generated herein are based on original material and form a contribution to the taxonomic clarification of species in the genus Ulnaria. Both names discussed have barely been noticed since their original description and then usually considered as synonyms of Ulnaria ulna. Some additional notes on other relevant names are included, such as Synedra putealis O’Meara and Synedra tenuis var. subtilis (Kützing) Brun.

Keywords:

• Ulnaria
• type material
• taxonomy
• synonymy
• Kützing

Acknowledgements

The authors express thanks to Bank Beszteri and Zlatko Levkov for providing information on Meister and Jurilj, respectively, as well as their additional assistance and advice, and to two anonymous reviewers and Becky Bixby for numerous useful comments, suggestions and corrections.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 We assume O’Meara meant fig. 12, which is S. tenuis; fig. 10 in Kützing (1844) is Synedra oxyrhynchus.

2 A reviewer brought to our attention the alternative authority of Georges Leuduger-Fortmorel for the name Synedra tenuis var. subtilis. This name was first recorded in de Wildeman’s Prodrome de la flore algologique des Indes Néerlandaises (Wildeman 1897, p.104, ‘S. tenuis var. subtilis Leud.-Fortm. loc. cit. p. 53’, bold and italic in original) and subsequently noted in his later flora of Buitenzorg (Wildeman 1900, p. 270, ‘Nous n’avons nulle part trouvé de description du Synedra tenuis var. subtilis Leud.-Fortm. Diat. Malaisie p. 53 (cf. De Wild. Prod. p. 104)’). Further, Koorders commented that ‘Die in Wildemann [sic.] l. c. citirte Abbildungen dieser Synedra (sowie der varietät delicatissima Grun.) fehlen leider in der Bibliothek des Botanischen Gartens in Buitenzorg und ebenfalls die Beschreibung der sehr Synedra tenuis var. subtilis Leud.-Fortm. Wildemann [sic.] l. c. p. 270). Daher bleibt die obige Bestimmung noch unsicher’, Koorders 1903, p. 534). The reference to Leuduger-Fortmorel is to his ‘Diatomées de la Malaisie’, where the name is noted as ‘S.[ynedra] -- -- [tenuis] var. subtilis. Java’ (Leuduger-Fortmorel 1892, p. 53). The implication is that Leuduger-Fortmorel did not consider this to be a new combination (he very clearly indicates his new taxa elsewhere in this publication), just as a record. None of the specimens he chose to name as Synedra tenuis var. subtilis have been available for examination.

3 A note on Brébisson de (1839): In 1839, Charles Chevalier published Des Microscopes et de leurs Usage (Chevalier 1839). Towards the end of the book there is a Lettre de M. de Brébisson à M. Charles Chevalier Sur les préparations nécessaires à l’étude des algues inférieures ; Suivie d’un Catalogue des Espèces connues des Desmidiées et des Diatomées ou Bacillariées, a 14-page summary of some desmids and diatoms. Amongst the diatom names is ‘F[ragilaria] capucina Desmaz. Var. β F. tenuis Ag.’, the first combination for Agardh’s taxon (Brébisson de 1839, p. 273). For further details on de Brébisson’s specimens and the entire contents of this 1839 contribution, a ms is in preparation.

4 An epitype is defined as ‘A specimen or illustration selected to serve as an interpretative type when the holotype, lectotype, or previously designated neotype, or all original material associated with a validly published name, cannot be identified for the purpose of the precise application of the name to a taxon’ (Turland et al. 2018, glossary).

5 Die Bacillarien Sachsens is not a well-known exsiccata, with only a few complete sets in existence. A study examining these specimens and detailing their contents is underway.