Staurophora Caljonii Spec. Nov. (Bacillariophyceae, Anomoeoneidaceae), a New Halophilic Diatom Species from Sub-Recent Lake Deposits in Kenya

Author： Cocquyt C.

Publisher： Springer Publishing Company

ISSN： 0018-8158

Source： Hydrobiologia, Vol.511, Iss.1, 2004-01, pp. : 37-46

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Abstract

Fossil diatom analyses of lake-sediment cores representing the last ∼250 years of Lakes Oloidien and Sonachi in the Eastern (Gregory) Rift Valley of central Kenya yielded a new diatom species, described here as Staurophora caljonii spec. nov. (Bacillariophyceae, Anomoeoneidaceae) on the basis of light and electron microscopic investigations of its frustule morphology. This presumably benthic halophilic species is known only from saline phases in the recent history of two sodium-bicarbonate (soda) lakes, when diatom-inferred conductivity was around 10 000 μS cm⁻¹. It has not been found in the modern diatom flora from saline Rift Valley lakes in Kenya (Sonachi, Nakuru, Elementeita) or Ethiopia (Abiyata, Langano), nor in Lake Oloidien, which is a freshwater lake nowadays. Its fossil distribution suggests that semi-permanent saline wetlands are its natural habitat. The closest modern relative of Staurophora Caljonii appears to be Stauroneis legleri Hustedt, a taxon known only from a salt lake in Austria. Additional, a light microscopic description of the frustule of S. legleri is given as well as some scanning electron microscopic characteristics.