Heterotrophic flagellates from coastal marine and hypersaline sediments in Western Australia

David J. Patterson and A. G. B. Simpson

School of Biological Sciences, University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales 2006, Australia

European Journal of Protistology 32: 423-448 (1996)


The communities of heterotrophic flagellates from four sites of differing salinity (from marine to saturated brine) from the Shark Bay region in Western Australia were examined. A total of 46 species were identified, seven of which are described for the first time. New names are Ancyromonas melba n. sp., Bodo cygnus n. sp., Colpodella unguis n. sp., Glissandra innuerende n. gen. n. sp., Pleurostomum turgidum n. sp., Ploeotia azurina n. sp., Rhynchobodo simius n. sp. and Palustrimonas n. gen. The majority of the new species were from hypersaline sites. There was a degree of overlap in the communities present at the different sites, especially between the three lowest salinity sites. Some species, such as Rhynchomonas nasuta, Bodo saltans and B. designis, have been found over a wide range of salinities. There was little evidence for any endemism in the marine site, with all species observed having been recorded previously from at least one other location geographically removed from Shark Bay.


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