Abstract
It has been known for a long time that marine mammals, such as whales and dolphins, host a very specific epizoic community on their skin. Whether or not a similar community exists on the carapaces of sea turtles is less studied. The present paper describes two new epizoic diatoms from the genus Achnanthessensu stricto, Achnanthes elongata and Achnanthes squaliformis, found on the carapaces of nesting olive ridley sea turtles (Lepidochelys olivacea) in Ostional Beach on the Pacific coast of Costa Rica, based upon detailed scanning electron microscopy and comparison with the type material of Achnanthes groenlandica var. phinneyi and Achnanthes pseudogroenlandica. The two taxa appear to be closely related on the basis of their morphological features including long, slender valves, absence of terminal orbiculi, large cribrate areolae and absence of typical costae on the internal virgae of both valves. They can, however, be differentiated from each other by the number of areolae per stria, the position of the rapheless sternum and differences in their length/width ratio.
About the authors
Roksana Majewska is a post-doctoral research fellow at North-West University in South Africa. She graduated in Biological Oceanography (MSc, University of Gdansk, Poland) and Novel Physics Methodologies for Environmental Sciences (PhD, II University of Naples, Italy). Her dissertation research focused on taxonomy, ecology and biogeography of marine Antarctic epiphytic diatoms. She has collaborated on various multidisciplinary projects in subjects including biotechnology, geology, biophysics, nanostructures, pharmacology and medicine. Nevertheless, her primary interests remain in diatom biology and ecology. Her most recent research project deals with the phenomenon of diatom epibiosis and surface associations in marine communities.
Mario De Stefano is an associate professor at the University of Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli” in Italy. He graduated in Biology (MSc) and in Biology of Algae (PhD) from the University of Naples “Federico II” and has been engaged in benthic ecological studies at Stazione Zoologica “A. Dohrn” in Naples. His research interests focus on temperate, tropical and polar diatom life histories, biology of other extremophiles and applications of this resaerch in nanotechnology, optoelectronics, photonics, biosensoring and bioinspired innovative materials and products. These research activities involve several collaborations with national and international scientific institutes, universities and private companies.
Luc Ector is a botanist and senior researcher at the Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology (LIST). He has been working on diatoms in rivers, lakes and soils for the last 30 years and was president of the “Association des Diatomistes de Langue Française (ADLaF)”, which organizes annual meetings on diatom taxonomy, ecology and related subjects. Over the last 20 years, he has been organizing and teaching numerous training courses on diatom ecology and taxonomy designed for biologists, technicians and ecologists, contributing to the continuous improvement in the Water Framework Directive implementation in Europe.
Federico Bolaños is a professor of Herpetology at Escuela de Biología at Universidad de Costa Rica, curator of the Herpetology collection at Museo de Zoología, and a member of the International Union for Conservation and Nature (Amphibian Specialist, Conservation Breeding Specialist and Viper Specialist Groups). His dissertation research focused on the natural history and population ecology of the granular poison frog (Oophaga granulifera) and his primary interest involves behavioral ecology of amphibians. He has participated in various taxonomic studies, describing nine species of amphibians and has dedicated most of his career to amphibian and reptile conservation in Latin America.
Thomas A. Frankovich is a marine ecologist working in coastal marine communities relating water quality to seagrass, macroalgal and diatom communities. His dissertation research was focused on seagrass epiphytes and various controlling factors that determine their nature and abundance. His research interests expanded from this base into investigations of seagrass die-off, underwater light availability and diatom taxonomy. Most recently, he has been conducting research describing unique epizoic diatom communities on manatees and sea turtles.
Michael J. Sullivan is a Professor Emeritus of Biology at Mississippi State University. He served as the editor of the international journal Diatom Research for 14 years. His primary research interests include the taxonomy and ecology of marine benthic diatoms. Other research areas include the primary productivity of benthic diatom assemblages and their trophic importance in salt marshes and seagrass beds using multiple stable isotope analyses. Recently, his primary interest has shifted to a relatively unexplored group of diatoms: those living epizoically on marine mammals and turtles. This unique flora should yield new insights into diatom biology.
Matt P. Ashworth is currently a research associate at the University of Texas at Austin. He received his PhD in Plant Biology from the University of Texas, Austin, in 2013. His research interests revolve around investigating the molecular and ecological machinery behind diversification in diatoms, as well as describing the extent of that diversification. His current work has focused on documenting patterns of benthic diatom diversity in tropical and subtropical habitats where diatoms have been less well studied historically, and because he no longer fits into his 7-mm wetsuit.
Bart Van de Vijver is a full-time researcher at the Botanic Garden Meise, Belgium, and a part-time professor at the University of Antwerp, Belgium. His research focuses mainly on the taxonomy, morphology and biogeography of Antarctic freshwater and terrestrial diatoms. Recently, he started working on the taxonomy and composition of epibiotic diatom communities living on marine turtles and whales.
Acknowledgments
We thank our colleagues Mario Santoro and Gerardo Chaves who assisted in the fieldwork. We acknowledge the financial support from the University of Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”. Funding for this research was partly provided within the framework of the project DIATOMS (LIST – Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology). This work was a part of the international project “Communities of marine epizoic diatoms, parasites and other epibionts on sea turtles from Costa Rica: ultrastructural, taxonomic, and biogeographical analysis” led by the University of Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli” (Italy) in collaboration with the University of Costa Rica (Costa Rica) and the Sapienza University of Rome (Italy). The study was conducted in the Refugio Nacional de Vida Silvestre Ostional protected area. The study was authorized by both Ministerio de Ambiente y Energia and Sistema Nacional de Àreas de Conservación under resolution ACT-OR-DR-074-13 for the Tempisque Conservation Area (that includes Ostional).
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