Paralia sulcata (Ehrenberg) Cleve (1873: 7)

Al-Handal, Adil Y., Thomas, Evan W. & Pennesi, Chiara, 2018, Marine benthic diatoms in the newly discovered coral reefs, off Basra coast, Southern Iraq, Phytotaxa 372 (2), pp. 111-152 : 116

Paralia sulcata (Ehrenberg) Cleve (1873: 7) ( Fig. 7 )

References: Hendey 1964, p. 73, pl. 23, fig. 5; Witkowski et al. 2000, p. 37, pl. 8, figs 10, 11.

Features: Diameter 40–70 μm.

Description: Valves circular with flat to slightly convex and hyaline center. Valve face with a ring of short and radiate markings.

Remarks: The genus Paralia includes several species which are difficult to separate without observations with electron microscopes ( Crawford 1979), this is mainly due to different valve types of the species. Observations with SEM revealed several taxa previously described as P. sulcata ( Macgillivary & Kaczmarska 2013) . The present specimens were assigned to P. sulcata based on matching with illustrations of the species in the literature.

Ecology and Distribution: A marine cosmopolitan species, normally found on sediment but occasionally in the plankton. Previously reported from the Gulf ( Hendey 1964, Al-Kandari et al. 2009). Frequent in Basra corals.

Figures

FIGURES 2–10. Marine benthic diatoms in the coral reefs off Basra. Fig. 2. Cyclotella striata, Fig. 3. Cyclotella stylorum, Fig. 4. Tryblioptychus cocconeiformis, Figs 5, 6. Podosira stelliger, Fig. 7. Paralia sulcata, Fig. 8. Coscinodiscus centralis, Fig. 9. Coscinodiscus marginatus, Fig. 10. Triceratium robertsianum.