The diverse species of the genus Hantzschia (Bacillariophyta) in sand flats of the Nakdong River estuary in Korea

Abstract

To collect the diatom species belonging to the genus Hantzschia, bottom sediments were collected from 32 sampling sites in 23 sand-flat areas in the intertidal zone and river reaches of Nakdong River estuary, Korea. The sand sediments contained a total of 19 species of genus Hantzschia, Hantzschia amphioxys (Ehrenberg) Grunow, H. amphioxys f. capitata O. Müller, H. baltica Simonsen, H. distinctepunctata (Hustedt) Hustedt, H. elegantula (Østrup) Witkowski et al., H. longiareolata Garcia-Baptista, H. marina (Donkin) Grunow, H. pseudomarina Hustedt, H. virgata (Roper) Grunow, H. virgata var. gracilis Hustedt, H. virgata var. kariana Grunow, H. virgata var. leptocephala Østrup and H. weyprechtii Grunow, including six unconfirmed species. Eleven Hantzschia species are reported as new to Korea. Hantzschia virgata, its infraspecies, and neighboring speceis showed large morphological variations within a single species or among the closely related species. Hantzschia amphioxys, H. distinctepunctata, and H. virgata var. leptocephala prefer freshwater habitats in the upper reaches of the river, while others occurred mainly in the sand flats composed of coarse sand in the intertidal area. In the estuarine sediments, the Hantzschia taxa are classified to be typical sand-attached forms.

Keywords

• benthic diatoms
• genus Hantzschia
• intertidal area
• Nakdong River estuary
• sand flats