Diatom of the month – March 2016: Mastogloia calcarea
by Luca Marazzi* ‘Who’ is it and where does it live? This diatom is a symmetric biraphid species, i.e. it has a raphe on either valve allowing it to move sliding on substrata. Mastogloia calcarea was ‘discovered’ / described by Sylvia Lee during her PhD research at Evelyn Gaiser’s lab at FIU; it is similar to M. smithii and M. lacustris , common freshwater species in this predominantly marine genus. This new species typically lives in karstic wetlands of the Caribbean region (Mexico, Jamaica and Belize) and in the Florida Everglades, as compared to the temperate zones where M. smithii and M. lacustris live and are found 1 . Mastogloia calcarea in valve (top) and girdle (bottom) view ( http://westerndiatoms.colorado.edu/ ) 1 ; scalebar = 10 µ m . ...