Labellicula lecohuiana, a new epizoic diatom species living on green turtles in Costa Rica

Abstract

A new Labellicula species, L. lecohuiana Majewska & Van de Vijver sp. nov., was observed living epizoically on the carapaces of green sea turtles in Costa Rican coastal waters. The new species, showing a narrowly lanceolate valve outline, is characterized by uniseriate striae composed of one large macroareola, a rather simple raphe structure with hooked terminal raphe fi ssures, the presence of two globular structures in the valve interior covering the isolated pore and a cingulum composed of several open, doubly perforated copulae. The new taxon can be distinguished from the only other Labellicula species known to date, the sub-Antarctic L. subantarctica, by diff erences in raphe structure and valve outline. Labellicula lecohuiana lacks both the distinct bucinoportula and the marginal canal typical of the genus Olifantiella and thus, the latter is excluded as the host genus for the new taxon