Gianfranco Novarino

Private Laboratory, London W12

Eukaryotic microorganisms (protists) are a very important component of microbial communities inhabiting groundwater aquifers. This is not unexpected when one considers that many protists feed heterotrophically, by means of either phagotrophy (bacterivory) or osmotrophy. Protistan numbers are usually low (< 10(2) per g dw of aquifer material) in pri...

This paper provides an annotated synopsis of cryptomonad morphology, ultrastructure, taxonomy and nomenclature. Its aim is to aid cryptomonad identification down to whatever taxonomic level is realistically possible, based on currently used taxonomic criteria. It is intended as a companion, i.e. a tool to be used in conjunction with the existing li...

Several species of flagellates (genera Bodo, Cercomonas, Cryptaulax, Cyathomonas, Goniomonas, Spumella) have been identified in cultures from a plume of organic contamination (treated sewage effluent) within an aquifer on Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Amoebae and numerous unidentifiable 2- to 3-mu m flagellates have also been observed. As a rule, flagel...

Planktonic heterotrophic flagellates are ubiquitous eukaryotic microorganisms that play a crucial role in carbon and nutrient fluxes through pelagic food webs. Here we illustrate for the first time a grazing model of planktonic dinoflagellate, Oxyrrhis marina, on the heterotrophic nanoflagellate Goniomonas amphinema, using the DNA-binding fluoresce...

The transport and attachment behaviors of Spumella guttula (Kent), a nanoflagellate (protist) found in contaminated and uncontaminated aquifer sediments in Cape Cod, Mass., were assessed in flowthrough and static columns and in a field injection-and-recovery transport experiment involving an array of multilevel samplers. Transport of S. guttula har...

Sampling carried out during the winter - spring period from 2005 to 2011 has made it possible to identify 90 Mastogloia taxa present on sandy bottoms located in the sublittoral zone (first ten meters below the water surface) along the coasts of Guadeloupe, Marie -Galante and Martinique (French Lesser Antilles Islands, Caribbean Sea). The purpose of...

In bottle samples collected during the spring-summer of 1998 in the Sea of Alboran and Barcelona coastal waters, several populations of Phaeocystis Lagerheim (Prymnesiophyceae = Prymnesiida) were found. Field-emission scanning electron microscopy showed that they belonged to six morphotypes. The flagellate unicell was the most abundant and widespre...

Nearly two centuries have gone by since Ehrenberg made the first known observations on cryptomonads, a group of biflagellate unicellular microalgae/protists/chromists found in all aquatic habitats, often with very high population densities. Cryptomonad identification using light microscopy has proved difficult ever since Ehrenberg's time and it is...

Nearly two centuries have gone by since Ehrenberg made the first known observations on cryptomonad flagellates. These microalgae/protists are very important ecologically, occur in all aquatic habitats, and often reach very high population densities. Their additional, vestigial eukaryotic nucleus (nucleomorph = cryptonucleus) has provided precious i...

Marine goniomonads have a worldwide distribution but ultrastructural information has not been available so far. An isolate of the heterotrophic marine nanoflagellate Goniomonas (G. aff. amphinema) from North Wales (UK) has been studied, providing information on its morphology and cellular structure using video, electron, laser scanning confocal mic...

Comments are made on some existing classification systems of the Cryptophyceae. A new system is also proposed. This allows for the existence of three orders, four families, seven pigmented genera and two colourless oneS. Formal diagnoses are given of the Cryptophyceae classis emendata, Pyrenomonadales ord.nov., Pyrenomonadaceae fam.nov. And Cryptom...

Two species of the cryptomonad genus Chroomonas are described based on two marine strains from the Culture Collection of Algae and Protozoa original, U.K. Chroomonas ligulata sp. nov. is based on strain 978/11, which is listed in the current collection catalogue as corresponding to the original isolate of C. collegionis Butcher; however, a comparis...

Three new varieties and two new combinations of marine Cryptophyceae are described: Proteomonas pseudobaltica comb, nov., P. pseudobaltica var. leonardiana var. nov., Pyrenomonas salina var. curvata var. nov., Rhinomonas reticulata var. atrorosea comb, et stat. nov., and R. reticulata var. compressa var. nov. Proteomonas is compared to the freshwat...

New observations on Opisthonecta matiensis Martín-Cereceda et al. [1999. Description of Opisthonecta matiensis n. sp. (Protozoa, Ciliophora), a new peritrich ciliate from wastewater. J. Eukaryot. Microbiol. 46, 283-289] especially the lack of an epistomial membrane, reveal that the species does not belong to the genus Opisthonecta, but to Telotroch...

The settling and resuspension of carbon-rich suspended particulate matter (SPM) are important determinants of pelagic and benthic productivity, and the fate of primary production, in tidally stirred shelf seas. The physical and biological properties of SPM were measured over 5 wk of a declining spring plankton bloom, dominated by the flagellate Pha...

The fine structure and surface exopolymers of a coastal planktonic nanodiatom of the sparsely reported genus Extubocellulus were studied respectively by scanning electron microscopy and confocal microscopy in conjunction with fluorescent lectins. Monitoring the suitability of the species as prey food for other protists was also investigated by vide...

Carbohydrate-protein interactions appear to play an important role in the phagocytosis of microbial prey by free-living protozoa. The present study utilizes FITC-labelled plant lectins to investigate the presence and localization of cell surface glycoconjugates on live and fixed planktonic protists (Dunaliella primolecta, Oxyrrhis marina, Goniomona...

The possible existence of endemism among microorganisms resulting from and preserved by geographic isolation is one of the most controversial topics in microbial ecology. We isolated 31 strains of “Spumella-like” flagellates from remote sampling sites from all continents, including Antarctica. These and another 23 isolates from a former study were...

This paper is an electron microscopical account of cryptomonad flagellates (Cryptophyceae = Cryptomonadea) in the plankton of the western Mediterranean Sea. Bottle samples collected during the spring-summer of 1998 in the Sea of Alboran and Barcelona coastal waters contained a total of eleven photosynthetic species: Chroomonas (sensu auctorum) sp.,...

FREE-LIVING FLAGELLATE PROTISTS (flagellates for short) are arguably the most abundant and widespread eukaryotic microorganisms in the biosphere. As a group, flagellates are highly polyphyletic – they are defined simply by the possession of one or more flagella used for locomotion or feeding, or both. This “flagellate condition” has been a huge evo...

Nomenclature, far from being a dry dusty subject, is today more relevant than ever before. Researchers into genomics are discovering again the need for systems of nomenclature-names are what we use to communicate about organisms, and by extension the rest of their biology. Here, we briefly outline the history of the published international codes of...

The effect of suspended fine sediment on protist growth and behaviour was investigated using kaolinite-dominated clay with a mean grain size of 0.9 mum. Suspended sediment particles about the same size as potential food items of picovorous organisms, i.e. bacteria, were expected to interfere with feeding. Growth rates of Halteria sp. and Tetrahymen...

This is the first qualitative and quantitative evidence showing that the marine mixotrophic flagellate Prymnesium parvum (Prymnesiida = Prymnesiophyceae p.p.) is able to graze on small (5 pm) planktonic diatoms of the genera Minidiscus and Thalassiosira. Flagellate grazing and diatom species preferences were determined quantitatively in monoxenic b...

We compare temperate data with information contained in 49 surveys of cryptomonads from Brazilian tropical regions. These surveys contain a total of 351 records relative to a total of 38 taxa at the species level or below. All taxa were identified using traditional morphological characters visible with the light microscope. Two taxa appear to be ne...

Lake Tovel (Italian Alps, Brenta Dolomites, 1178 m a.s.l.), with a dimictic mixolimnion, is a meromictic and oligotrophic mountain lake, once notorious for the summer reddening of its waters due to dinoflagellate blooms that ceased suddenly in 1964. Since 1997 the Museo Tridentino di Scienze Naturali has been carrying out in situexperiments in orde...

We give an account of the presence of the loricate mixotrophic nanoflagellate Ollicola vangoori (syn. Calycomonas vangoori) (Chrysophyceae = Chrysomonadina) in the plankton of the western Mediterranean Sea, where it occurs either as dispersed (unattached) cells or attached to suspended particulate matter. Using digital imaging and field-emission sc...

1. Lake Fryxell, situated in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica, offers the opportunity to study microbial loop processes in the absence of crustacean zooplankton and other higher organisms. This is the first study of Lake Fryxell to provide detailed temporal and vertical variations of microbial loop organisms. 2. Protozoan communities are concent...

The present study reports observations on the bacterivory of a large-size euglenid flagellate (body length: 30–40 μm; average biovolume: 1.5 × 104 μm3), tentatively identified as a species of Dinematomonas (Dinema), upon fluorescently-labelled bacteria (FLB). Flagellate and bacterial strains were isolated from eutrophic sites of the Seto Inland Sea...

Georges Deflandre's original material of the loricate euglenid flagellates Trachelomonas magdaleniana Deflandre, T. molesta Deflandre, T. spectabilis Deflandre and T. zorensis Deflandre has been examined using light or scanning electron microscopy. Lectotypes are designated under the botanical and zoological Codes of Nomenclature. Revised descripti...

The coccolithophorid Ochrosphaera neapolitana is reported from the Isle of Anglesey, North Wales, U.K.. Its morphology is described based on a uniprotistan culture examined by light and electron microscopy. Several stages are described, including non coccolith-bearing paucicellular stages composed of two or four cells with parts of their investment...

Time series incubations were conducted to provide estimates for the size selectivities and rates of protistan grazing that may be occurring in a sandy, contaminated aquifer. The experiments involved four size classes of fluorescently labeled groundwater bacteria (FLB) and 2- to 3-microns-long nanoflagellates, primarily Spumella guttula (Ehrenberg)...

During the UK Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) North Sea Community Programme 1987–1992, pelagic flagellate populations in the southern North Sea were examined during the period 1988–89. Not less than 84 species of flagellates were found, of which 73 could be identified down to genus or species level using light or scanning electron micro...

The new name Cryptaulaxoides is introduced to replace Cryptaulax Skuja, 1948 (non Cryptaulax Tate, 1869, non Cryptaulax Cameron, 1906), a name of a genus of heterotrophic flagellate protists, under Article 60 of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature. All but one of the existing species of Cryptaulax Skuja are recombined in Cryptaulaxoid...

Some zoological classification systems of cryptomonads, a group of ambiregnal protists, are reviewed. In addition, a system recently erected under the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature is provided with a zoological equivalent, that is, a system where taxa are named according to the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature. A "du...

During 1989, the North Sea Community Programme made monthly cruises to study physical, chemical and biological conditions at 110 sites in the southern North Sea. This paper describes events during the spring at two sites differing in their tidal stirring characteristics. In situ fluorometers moored at each site gave daily estimates of chlorophyll c...

The description of the genus Plagioselmis Butcher (Cryptophyceae) is emended based upon the type species Plagioselmis prolonga sp. nov., P. prolonga var. nordica var. nov., and P. nannoplanctica (Skuja) comb. et stat. nov.. The genus belongs to the order Cryptomonadales Novarino et Lucas owing to the fact that the nucleomorph is positioned out...

Energy-dispersive X-ray microanalysis shows that the mucilage stalk of the diatom Achnanthes longipes contains calcium, magnesium, silicon, and other elements usually present in small amounts. Calcium and magnesium are probably present in the form of carbonates (high magnesian calcite). There appears to be more silicon towards the stalk collar than...

Comments are made on some existing classification systems of the Cryptophyceae. A new system is also proposed. This allows for the existence of three orders, four families, seven pigmented genera and two colourless ones. Formal diagnoses are given of the Cryptophyceae classis emendata, Pyrenomonadales ord. nov., Pyrenomonadaceae fam. nov. and Crypt...

The girdle of Achnanthes longipes has been studied using scanning and transmission electron microscopy. An examination of 132 isolated bands showed that they can be classified into 3 main morphological types, all of which are usually open at one end, and bear poroids with occlusions recalling those of the valve poroids. The most advalvar band (band...

In Mastogloia smithii, M. lanceolata, M. robusta, and M. erythraea, there is a positive correlation between the number of partecta of the valvocopula and the frustule length; by contrast, in M. decussata there is no significant correlation. In most specimens belonging to species with large numbers of partecta there are up to 5 more partecta on one...

Based upon an examination of material from Qatari coastal waters, Mastogloia erythraea var. biocellata is removed from M. erythraea, and its taxonomie rank is raised to that of a species, M. biocellata stat. nov. This diffors from M. erythraea var. erythraea in the absence of a gutter (axial costae) along the internal raphe fissure, the position of...

Seven marine red strains of Cryptophyceae were examined using scanning and transmission electron microscopy. Six of these, possessing a nucleomorph housed within the pyrenoid and a periplast with distinctly hexagonal periplast areas, are assigned to Rhinomonas reticulata comb. nov. Rhinomonas reticulata var. eleniana var. nov. is described on the b...

Frustules of Mastogloia smithii from the Rabenhorst collection were studied in light and scanning electron microscopy. The valvocopula is composed of three elements: the band-like pars exterior, the septum, and the partectal ring, which contains a porous intrapartectal cylinder similar to that of Mastogloia grevillei and M. lanceolata. Pseudopartec...

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wales (U.C.N.W., Bangor: Ocean Sciences), 1990.

An update of the taxa assigned to the genus Mastogloia is given. An estimated 410 taxa have been described as at November 1988. A cross-reference database of the similarities existing between 164 recently described taxa and 83 well-known ones is also reported. This may facilitate the identification of troublesome specimens, which could belong to a...

Examination of the interior of the partectal ring of Mastogloia lanceolata with the scanning electron microscope reveals a complex architecture, equivalent to one described two decades ago for Mastogloia grevillei using transmission electron microscopy. Partectal ducts are present in the uppermost portion of the wall of the partectal ring. A finely...

The genus Mastogloia (Bacillariophyceae: Naviculaceae) in the Lakes of Fogliano and of Caprolace (Latium, Central Italy). The authors have studied the diatom genus Mastogloia in the Lakes of Fogliano and of Caprolace, two brackish coastal lakes in Latium (Central Italy). Eighteen taxa have been identified. They are all new records for these lakes....