<i>Chrysosphaerella septentrionalis</i> sp. nov. (Chrysophyceae, Chromulinales), a New Species from the Arctic Including the Description of <i>Chrysosphaerellaceae</i>, fam. nov.

Abstract

A new species, Chrysosphaerella septentrionalis, is described from a peat bog located on the bank of the Paz River (Pasvik Nature Reserve, Murmansk Region, Russia). Scale ultrastructure was studied using a scanning electron microscope. Morphologically, C. septentrionalis seems to closely resemble C. longispina. However, C. septentrionalis possesses subcircular scales in addition to the oval scales, and they are much smaller than in C. longispina. We suppose that C. septentrionalis is the first pseudocryptic species within the C. longispina complex. Additionally, we proposed an infrageneric classification of Chrysosphaerella based on the scale structure and divided the genus into three sections: Chrysosphaerella, Brevispinae sect. nov. and Septispinae sect. nov. The formal description of a new family Chrysosphaerellaceae fam. nov. is also provided.

Keywords

• chrysophytes
• siliceous scales
• morphology
• ultrastructure
• SEM
• hidden diversity