Revista Chilena de Historia Natural 76 (4): 651-664, 2003
RESEARCH ARTICLE
The family Hemiaulaceae (Bacillariophyceae) from marine Chilean waters
The Family Hemiaulaceae comprises four genera, all of which have been previously
reported for coastal waters off Chile, and represented by the following taxa: Cerataulina pelagica (Cleve) Hendey,
Hemiaulus sinensis Greville, H. membranaceus Cleve, Climacodium biconcavum
Cleve, Eucampia Antarctica (Castracane) Mangin, E. cornuta (Cleve) Grunow and E. zodiacus
Ehrenberg. However, examination with light and electron microscopy of marine samples from along the Chilean coast and the
Antarctic Peninsula (including those used in earlier publications) revealed that (1) the genus Cerataulina is represented by
C. pelagica, and is distributed along the Chilean coast between Arica in the north and the Magellan Strait in
the south, (2) the genus Eucampia comprises four taxa: E. zodiacus f. cylindrocornis Syvertsen
(previously reported for Chile as E. zodiacus f. zodiacus), E. zodiacus f. recta
Rivera, Avaria & Cruces (described here), E. cornuta and E. antarctica. The former three taxa
occur in the central and northern coast of Chile, while E. antarctica lives in Antarctic waters south of the
Magellan Strait, (3) earlier records of Hemialus membranaceus, H. sinensis and Climacodium
biconcavum in Chilean waters aremisidentifications of Eucampia zodiacus f. recta f. nov. A short
description is included for each taxon, and photographs provide information about the main morphological
characteristics.
Key words:
diatoms,
Hemiaulaceae, Chile, morphology, taxonomy
