Nitzschia austriaca Hustedt emend. Ács & Ector

Földi, Éva Ács Angéla, Wetzel, Carlos E., Vad, Csaba F., Kiss, Keve T., Dobosy, Péter, Trábert, Zsuzsa, Grigorszky, István, Engloner, Attila & Ector, Luc, 2017, Nitzschia austriaca Hustedt: a characteristic diatom of Hungarian inland saline waters including a morphological comparison with the type material, Phytotaxa 308 (1), pp. 54-65 : 63

Nitzschia austriaca Hustedt emend. Ács & Ector

Valve length 12–34 μm, width 1.8–3.3 μm, 22–30 striae in 10 μm, 12–16 fibulae in 10 μm. In SEM, externally: the striae are uniseriate and are never doubled on the raphe keel. Areolae are circular. On the mantle, the striae are very short, comprising one areola. The distal raphe endings turn always to the same side, either toward the valve face or the valve mantle. Central raphe fissures are drop-shaped and close to each other, the proximal raphe end follows the valve margin. Internally: areolae are not covered by hymenes. The raphe slit is interrupted by a central nodule. A small helictoglossa is present internally at both distal raphe endings.

The species is frequent in Hungarian soda pans and likely widespread in other inland saline lakes, but due to the uncertainity of its taxonomical position it has probably been identified sometimes as Nitzschia frustulum , despite the distinct sigmoid outline of the valves. Nitzschia austriaca prefers turbid, hypertrophic (based on total phosphorus concentration) soda waters.