Revision of the genus Navicula s.s. (Bacillariophyceae) in inland waters of the Sub-Antarctic and Antarctic with the description of five new species

Abstract

Van de Vijver B., Zidarova R., Sterken M., Verleyen E., de Haan M., Vyverman W., Hinz F. and Sabbe K. 2011. Revision of the genus Navicula s.s. (Bacillariophyceae) in inland waters of the Sub-Antarctic and Antarctic with the description of five new species. Phycologia 50: 281–297. DOI: 10.2216/10-49.1

A revision of the diatom genus Navicula s.s. in inland water samples from the Sub-Antarctic and Antarctic resulted in the description of five new species, viz. Navicula australoshetlandica Van de Vijver sp. nov., N. dobrinatemniskovae Zidarova & Van de Vijver sp. nov., N. cremeri Van de Vijver & Zidarova sp. nov., N. conveyi Van de Vijver sp. nov. and Navicula bicephaloides Van de Vijver & Zidarova sp. nov. The new species are extensively compared with other similar species. The morphology and taxonomy of three other Navicula taxa present in the same materials are briefly discussed. A critical revision of literature reports of Navicula taxa in the Antarctic and Sub-Antarctic region indicates that despite the large number of records the genus is rather species-poor in the Sub-Antarctic and Antarctic. From a biogeographical point of view, there is a clear separation between the Sub-Antarctic localities in the southern Indian Ocean and the islands in the southern Atlantic Ocean, with several species showing a restricted biogeography.

Key Words::

• Sub-Antarctic and Antarctic Region
• Bacillariophyta
• Diatoms
• Morphology
• Navicula
• Taxonomy

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The authors wish to thank Prof. Dr L. Beyens, Prof. Dr A. Quesada, Dr G. Mataloni and Dr L. Nedbalová for the collection of samples on James Ross Island and the South Shetland Islands. Dr J. Taylor is thanked for providing us with the type material of N. libonensis. Sampling on Crozet has been made possible thanks to the logistic and financial support of the French Polar Institute-Paul-Emile Victor in the framework of the terrestrial program 136 (Ir. Marc Lebouvier & Dr Yves Frenot). Part of this research was funded within the BelSPO HOLANT project and the FWO project G.0533.07. E.V. is a post-doctoral research fellow with the Fund for Scientific Research, Flanders.