全 文 ：植 物 分 类 学 报 44 (1): 95–99(2006) doi:10.1360/aps040085
Acta Phytotaxonomica Sinica http://www.plantsystematics.com
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Received: 19 July 2004 Accepted: 27 January 2005
Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, Grant Nos. 30270118, 40476055, 30499340, and Project of
innovation foundation of Xiamen University, Grant No. XDKJCX20041018.
* Author for correspondence. E-mail: .
Four newly recorded species of Bacillariophyta from
the mangroves in China
CHEN Chang-Ping GAO Ya-Hui* LIN Peng
(School of Life Sciences, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005, China)
Abstract Four species of diatoms from the mangroves in Fujian Province and Shenzhen City
of China are described. They are Cymbella cucumis A. Schmidt, Navicula elegantoides
Hustedt, N. platyventris Meister, and N. tenera Hustedt. They represent new records for China.
Detailed description of the taxonomic characters of the four species and of their ecological
behavior is given. Cymbella cucumis was defined as a freshwater and brackish water species
for it occurred, though occasionally, where water salinity was more than 15.
Key words Diatom, mangroves, new record, China.
Mangroves are woody plant communities which occur in the intertidal zones of tropical
and subtropical coastlines of the world (Lin, 1984). Mangrove algae constitute a significant
food source for various organisms in the mangrove ecosystem (Nicholas et al. , 1988).
Taxonomic studies of diatoms from mangrove environments have been carried out in many
countries (Foged, 1979；Navarro, 1982；Nagumo & Hara, 1990；Sequeiros-Beltrones &
Castrejon, 1999). In China, however, such studies have been less reported (Du & Jin, 1983),
especially for benthic diatoms (Fan et al. , 1993; Chen et al., 2005).
Benthic diatoms serve as a common food for certain mangrove fishes (Beumer, 1978)
and diatoms were abundant in phytoplankton in mangroves (Liu & Chen, 1997). In this paper,
four newly recorded species of diatoms from the mangroves in China were reported. They are
Cymbella cucumis A. Schmidt, Navicula elegantoides Hustedt, N. platyventris Meister and N.
tenera Hustedt.
1 Material and methods
Samples were collected from water and mudflat in mangroves in Fujian Province and
Shenzhen City, China, respectively. All samples were treated with 10% HCl to remove the
calcareous matter, and treated with 30% H2O2 to destroy the organic material. Each sample
was diluted by adding distilled water until no acid was left in the sample. Treated samples
were identified and photographed under an Olympus BH-2 microscope (1000×) and a
JEM-100CX II transmission electron microscope (TEM).
2 Description of species
1. Cymbella cucumis A. Schmidt in A. Schmidt et al., Atlas Diatomaceenkunde 9, pl. 9, figs.
21, 22. 1885; Cleve, Kongliga Svenska Vetenskaps-Akademiens Handlingar 26: 165. 1894；
Hustedt in A. Schmidt et al., Atlas Diatomaceenkunde 375. 1931.
瓜形桥弯藻 Fig. 1
Acta Phytotaxonomica Sinica Vol. 44 96

Valve broad, with convex dorsal and almost straight or slightly convex ventral margin.
Ends rostrate-truncate, 70 µm long, 22 µm wide (79–90 µm long and 24 µm wide in Cleve
(1894)). Axial area narrow, slightly dilated around the central nodule. Raphe slightly arcuate.
Striae 9 (dorsal) to 10 (ventral) in 10 µm; areolae 12–14 in 10 µm.
This species is similar to Cymbella lata Grunow and C. ehrenbergii Kützing, but C. lata
has dense areolae, approximately 30 in 10 µm, valve 40–60 µm long, 16–18 µm wide, raphe
slightly eccentric, slightly curved, with dorsally reflexed apical fissures, and occurs in fresh
and slightly saline water. Cymbella ehrenbergii has narrow, slightly protracted ends, almost
straight raphe, axial area moderately wide, lanceolate, roundishly widened around the central
nodule, valve 50–220 µm long, 19–50 µm wide, and occurs in freshwater, brackish water and
sea water (Cleve, 1894).
Habitat: Freshwater and brackish water. Cleve (1894) pointed out that Cymbella cucumis
is a freshwater species, but we found it occurred where water salinity ranged from 5.0 to 26.1
sampled from January 2001 to January 2003.
Distribution: Our samples were collected from mudflat in mangroves in Yunxiao
County, Fujian Province, China. This species has been previously found in Bengal and
Cameroon (Cleve, 1894).
2. Navicula elegantoides Hustedt in A. Thienemann, Die Binnengewasser 16 (2): 76, fig.
142. 1942; Prowse in Garden’s Bull., Singapore 19: 42. 1962.
拟优美舟形藻 Fig. 2
Valve elliptical-lanceolate with rostrate, produced apices, 60 µm long, 23 µm wide
(60–85 µm long and 22–26 µm wide in John (1983)). Axial area broad, narrowing towards the
apices, central area broadly lanceolate, slightly asymmetrical. Raphe branches broad. Striae
costate, radiate towards the middle, becoming convergent towards the apices, 7 in 10 µm.
This species is similar to Navicula yarrensis Grunow and N. elegans W. Smith, but valve
of N. yarrensis has 4–4.5 striae in 10 µm, 80–162 µm long, 26–35 µm wide, with the striae
radiate in the middle, parallel to slightly convergent at the apices, and that of N. elegans has
9–11 striae in 10 µm, approximately parallel margins and large orbicular central area, 75–80
µm long, 18–21 µm wide, with the striae strongly curved, radiate towards the middle and
parallel to convergent towards the apices (John, 1983).
Habitat: Freshwater and brackish water, benthic and planktonic. Water salinity ranges
from 2.2 to 35.6 in John (1983) and from 5.0 to 26.1 in our samples, respectively.
Distribution: Our samples were collected from mudflat in mangroves in Yunxiao
County, Fujian Province, China. This species has been previously found in Sri Lanka (Foged,
1976) and estuarine of Swan River in Australia (John, 1983).
3. Navicula platyventris Meister in Bibl. Diatom. 44: 95, fig. 33. 1935.
侧偏舟形藻 Fig. 3
Valve long elliptical, 2-rostrate, 17 µm long and 4.5 µm wide (11–22 µm long and 5–7
µm wide in Navarro (1982)). Striae radiate with short bar areolae, 27 in 10 µm. Axial area
narrowing towards the apices, central area orbicular, with a short stria on each side.
This species is different from Navicula rhaphoneis (Ehr. ) Grunow by its short striae and
areolae (Cheng et al., 1993). In N. rhaphoneis, the valve is 11.5–35 µm long and 5–11 µm
wide, the apical endings turn to the same side, the central area is expanded, with 2 short striae
on each side (only 2 areolae), striae radiate towards the middle, becoming parallel or slightly
convergent near the apices, 11–12.5 in 10 µm.


No. 1 CHEN Chang-Ping et al.: Four newly recorded species of Bacillariophyta from the mangroves in China 97

Figs. 1–4. Photomicrographs of four newly recorded species of Bacillariophyta. 1. Cymbella cucumis (LM). 2. Navicula
elegantoides (LM). 3. Navicula platyventris (TEM). 4. Navicula tenera (TEM). Scale bar=3 µm for Figs. 3, 4 and 10 µm
for Figs. 1, 2.

Acta Phytotaxonomica Sinica Vol. 44 98

Habitat: Sea water and brackish water, planktonic. Water salinity ranges from 25 to 40 in
Navarro (1982) and from 17.6–21.8 in mangroves in Shenzhen City, China, respectively.
Distribution: Our samples were collected from water in mangroves in Shenzhen City,
China. This species has been previously found in Florida, USA (Navarro, 1982).
4. Navicula tenera Hustedt in A. Schmidt et al., Atlas Diatomaceenkunde 405, pl. 405. 1936；
et in Archiv Hydrobiologie, suppl.-Bd. 15 (Tropische Binnengewasser, Bd. 7): 259. 1937;
Prowse in Garden’s Bulletin, Singapore 19: 48. 1962.
柔弱舟形藻 Fig. 4
Valve elliptical with broadly rounded poles, 12 µm long, 5.5 µm wide (9–14.5 µm long
and 4–6.5 µm wide in Archibald (1983), 9–27 µm long and 4–9 µm wide in Krammer &
Lange-Bertalot (1986)). The raphe is slightly arcuate, and the axial area is a wide lanceolate
region made asymmetrical on account of the row of isolated pores on one side of the raphe.
The axis rib is out of the axial area, with fine areolae. The transapical striae are relatively
short extending a third of the valve width inwards from the margin. A curved longitudinal
costa on either side of the raphe divides the striae into a smaller pore on the inner side of the
costa, with a larger areole on the outer side.
The species has a row of isolated pores on one side of the raphe in the axial area. In its
closely related species, such as Navicula insociabilis Krasske and N. monoculata Hustedt, the
pores lie just outside the axial rib or slightly indented into it. The valve of N. monoculata is
6.5–11 µm long, 2.5–4.7 µm wide, with 30 axis ribs in 10 µm, and the apical endings turn to
the same side.
Habitat: Freshwater and brackish water, planktonic and benthic. Archibald (1983)
reported Navicula tenera to occur in estuarine of river, though Wujek & Rupp (1980) and
Foged (1976) pointed out that it is a freshwater species. In our samples the water salinity
ranged from 17.6–21.8 in mangroves of Shenzhen City, China.
Distribution: Our samples were collected from mudflat and water of mangroves in
Shenzhen City, China. This species has been previously recorded in Sri Lanka (Foged, 1976),
Michigan of USA (Wujek & Rupp, 1980) and South Africa (Archibald, 1983).
3 Discussion
Former studies have ascribed Cymbella cucumis to only freshwater species (Cleve,
1894；Prowse, 1962). We observed that it occurred, though occasionally, where water salinity
was more than 15, suggesting that it was also a brackish water species. Navicula elegantoides,
N. platyventris and N. tenera occurred in both freshwater and brackish water. Though N.
elegantoides and N. platyventris were rare, N. tenera was common, ranging from 2.0×
103–2.6×105 cells/L from Jan. 2001 to Jan. 2003 in the samples.
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红树林下中国新记录的四种硅藻
陈长平 高亚辉* 林 鹏
(厦门大学生命科学学院 厦门 361005)
摘要 报道了来自福建和深圳红树林下中国首次记录的4种硅藻, 即瓜形桥弯藻Cymbella cucumis A.
Schmidt、拟优美舟形藻Navicula elegantoides Hustedt、侧偏舟形藻N. platyventris Meister 和柔弱舟形藻
N. tenera Hustedt, 同时描述了每个种类的细胞形态特征和生态分布特点。作者认为淡水硅藻瓜形桥弯
藻C. cucumis在半咸水和海水的环境中也有分布(盐度>15), 应属于淡水和半咸水种。
关键词 硅藻; 红树林; 新记录; 中国