Home / Diatoms / Pennate / Unicells / Biraphes / Asymmetric / Keeled / Cymatopleura
Click on images for larger format
Name derivation:
Greek Cymat meaning a wave or swelling; pleura meaning a rib.
Classification:
Cymatopleura W.Smith 1851; 12 of 35 species descriptions are currently accepted taxonomically (Guiry and Guiry 2014). Order Surirellales; Family Surirellaceae
Morphology:
Cells appear in both valve and girdle view. In valve view the cells are asymetric and slightly constricted in the center. Occasionally the cells are twisted at the tip of the axis. The cell contains one plastid that consist of two large plates connected by a narrow strip. The valves are linear to elliptical and the raphe runs around the entire circumference of the valve. The face of the valve can form a series of waves. The raphe system is raished on a shallow keel. Can have striations moving inward towards the center from each keel.
Similar genera:
Diploneis is similiar in shape, but has two channels running down each side of the raphe in the center of the valve face.
Evaluation of sites with damage from humans:
Cymatopleura has been used as a reliable synbioindicator of unlikely directed types of anthropic load on aquatic ecosystems due to their specific sensitivities (Oksiyuk et al. 2011).
Forensics:
Cymatopleura is one of the diatoms looked at in different types of water bodies in Punjab, India, used to compare with drowning cases to help identify where the drowning occurred due to the presence and density of the diatom(s) (Thakar and Singh, 2010).
Palaeoenvironmental tools:
Diatomaceous deposits of Cymatopleura and other diatoms were analyzed from Fayoum depression, Egypt, to reconstruct palaeoenvironmental changes during the early to middle Holocene. The stratigraphic distributions of the Cymatopleura and others revealed shifts in paleosalinity, pH, and water levels over time (Zalat, 2014).
Habitat:
Freshwater genus that is attached to soft sand or muddy bottom (epipelic). It is condusive to alkaline waters.
References:
Guiry, M.D. and G.M. Guiry 2014. AlgaeBase. World-wide electronic publication, National University of Ireland, Galway. http://www.algaebase.org; searched on 2 May 2014. Oksiyuk, O.P., O.A. Davydov, Y.I. Karpezo 2011. Microphytobenthos as Bioindicator of the State of Aquatic Ecosystems. Hydrobiological Journal 47:72-85 Round, F. E., Crawford, R. M., Mann, D. G. 1990. The Diatoms. Cambridge University Press. New York, NY. Spaulding, S.A., J. Saros 2012. Historical Distribution and Modern Invasions: Didymosphenia geminate in the Rocky Mountains of the Western US. XXII International Diatom Symposium 1:100-105 Thakar, M.K., R. Singh 2010. Diatomological mapping of water bodies for the diagnosis of drowning cases. Journal of Forensic and Legal Medicine. 17:18-25 Zalat, A.A., 2014. Holocene diatom asemblages and their palaeoenvironmental interpretations if Fayoum depression, Western Desert, Egypt. Quaternary International. 360:1-13