Nitzschia species from inland saline waters in the Vojvodina Province (Serbia)

Abstract

Saline habitats, such as lakes, ponds and channels in the Vojvodina Province (Serbia) are alkaline and unique due to their specific physical and chemical features. During three years (2017-2019) we investigated 10 different saline lakes, ponds and channels in the Serbian part of the Carpathian Basin. By far the most abundant genus was Nitzschia Hassall with 27 recorded taxa. Some of them are characteristic for electrolyte rich waters, e.g. N. frustulum, N. palea, N. inconspicua, N. supralitorea. However, we found species specific for marine and brackish waters, e.g. N. communis, N. thermaloides, N. reversa. Of all recorded Nitzschia species four taxa could not be identified to species level. One of them with sigmoid outline, Nitzschia sp. 2, is very similar to N. austriaca but differs in striae density and distribution of fibulae. In Nitzschia sp. 2 transapical striae are not visible in LM. In addition, in both species fibulae are quite regularly distributed along the raphe canal, but in N. austriaca the central fibulae are more widely spaced than in the other species. In Lake Bela bara we found both species with abundance of 94.93% for Nitzschia sp. 2. and 1.21% for N. austriaca. The poster illustrates the Nitzschia diversity in inland saline waters in Vojvodina Province, with an emphasis on sigmoid Nitzschia species that might be new to science.