Free-living heterotrophic euglenids from marine sediments of the Gippsland Basin, southeastern Australia

Abstract

Twenty-three species and forms from six genera of heterotrophic euglenids (Euglenozoa, Protista) encountered in marine sediments from various stations in the Gippsland Basin, southeastern Australia are described with uninterpreted records based on light microscopy. The records include accounts of one new taxon (Notosolenus caudatus sp. nov.) and of five unidentified taxa. The majority of species described here have also been found at other locations worldwide. I am unable to assess if the new and unidentified species are endemic and if the euglenid flagellate community from the Gippsland Basin is distinctive because of the lack of intensive studies elsewhere.

Keywords:

• Deep-sea sediments
• endemic
• Euglenozoa
• heterotrophic flagellates
• Notosolenus caudatus
• Protista

Published in collaboration with the University of Bergen and the Institute of Marine Research, Norway, and the Marine Biological Laboratory, University of Copenhagen, Denmark

Published in collaboration with the University of Bergen and the Institute of Marine Research, Norway, and the Marine Biological Laboratory, University of Copenhagen, Denmark

Acknowledgements

This study was supprted by the Kyungnam University Research Fund (2007). I am grateful to Professors Jock Keens (University of Sydney) and M. Wallace (University of Melbourne) for making this work possible.

Notes

Published in collaboration with the University of Bergen and the Institute of Marine Research, Norway, and the Marine Biological Laboratory, University of Copenhagen, Denmark