Biddulphia quinquelocularis Kützing, 1844

Williams, David M., 2021, Studies on type material from Kützing’s diatom collection VI: The identity of Diatoma liber Suhr (1831), Phytotaxa 528 (3), pp. 215-223 : 217-219

3. Biddulphia quinquelocularis Kützing (p. 138, pl. 19, fig. I, 1, 2)

Both Diatoma liber and Diatoma interstitiale are cited in Kützing (1844, 1849) as synonyms of his Biddulphia quinquelocularis Kützing (Kützing, p. 138, pl. 19, fig. I, 1, 2, see Fig. 7 ; ‘ Biddulphia quinquelobata’ was an alternative name used only for herbarium material). Although described as new, Kützing included a number of apparent synonyms ( Table 2 ) as well as numerous localities ( Table 3 , marked with Y in the last column). Most subsequent commentators have considered Biddulphia quinquelocularis a synonym of Biddulphia biddulphiana (J.E. Smith) Boyer (1900, p. 694) .

The Kinker catalogue lists six slides (* in Table 3 ) for quinquelocularis along with one addition slide for the invalidly published ‘ Biddulphia elongata ’ Meneghini (in Kützing 1849, p. 137, BM 19394), also considered a synonym of B. quinquelocularis . Although the Canary Islands are listed in Kützing (1844), no slide has Biddulphia quinquelocularis indicated as present. ‘Kützing 821’ is the source material for BM 19392, the apparent type material for B. quinquelocularis ( Figs 8–10 ).

‘ Biddulphia elongata ’ Meneghini has only been recorded by Kützing (1849, p. 137) but Meneghini did comment earlier on the specimens: “Abbiamo nell’Adriatico le due specie quinquelocularis e trilocularis . Lo riferisco alla seconda una forma a bacilli minori e molto allungati, che credevo dapprima una nuova specie e come tale comunicai al Kützing, il quale la credette invece appartenente alla quinquelocularis ” ( Meneghini 1846, p. 1998). ‘Kützing 927’ is the source material for BM 19394, the apparent type material for ‘ B. elongata ’, which contains just fragments, mostly with fragments of a species of Rhabdonema ( Figures 11, 12 , BM001167211: https://data.nhm.ac.uk/dataset/collection-specimens/resource/05ff2255-c38a-40c9-b657-4ccb55ab2feb/record/8288389).

Figures

FIGURES 1–7. 1. Reproduction of Suhr’s original figure for Diatoma liber (in Suhr 1834, 17 (1), tab. III, fig. 4; Suhr’s illustrations have no scale, the reproduction here is approximately the same size as that in the original, see https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/ 31440#page/, also not to scale). 2–6. Specimens of Diatoma liber from BM 19390 (‘Kützing 823’, “Ins Canar.”, Canary Islands). 7. Reproduction of Kützing’s figures for Biddulphia quinquelocularis (in Kützing 1844, p. 138, pl. 19, fig. I, 1, 2). Scale bars: ca. 20 μm.

FIGURES 8–12. 8–10. Specimens of Biddulphia quinquelocularis from BM 19392 (‘Kützing 821’, “Im mittelländischen Meer bei Genua!” [slide label: “Genoa 1828”]. 11, 12. Specimens of ‘Biddulphia elongata’ from BM 19394 (‘Kützing 927’, Adriatic [Dalmatia, Croatia]), contains mostly fragments. Scale bars: ca. 20 μm.

FIGURES13–19. 13–16.SpecimensofBiddulphiaquinquelocularisfromBM19393(‘Kützing1180’,“IlesChausey,France [Lenormand]). 17–19. Specimens of Biddulphia quinquelocularis from BM 19388 (‘Kützing 934’, “Lessina, Nolte [Germany]”). Scale bars: ca. 20 μm.

Tables

TABLE 3. Relevant slides in BM for Biddulphia quinquelocularis; the six slides marked with an asterisk have specimens of B. quinquelocularis, the 7th is Biddulphia elongata; localities marked with Y are included in the protologue for Biddulphia quinqueloculari.

BM	Kützing	Name	Locality
			“In der Nordsee, selten bei Helgoland!”	Y
19391 *	1778	quinquelocularis	“häufiger an den britischen Inseln: Berkeley” [Ilfracombe, Ralfs] [ Ralfs 1843]; BM001167210, https://data.nhm.ac.uk/dataset/collection-specimens/resource/ 05ff2255-c38a-40c9-b657-4ccb55ab2feb/record/8288381).	Y
19392 *	821	quinquelocularis	“Im mittelländischen Meer bei Genua!” 1	Y
			“An den Küsten der kanarischen Inseln”	Y
			“bei der Insel Cuba ” [ Ehrenberg 1843]	Y
19396*	8222	quinquelocularis ‘dalmatica’	Adriatic [Dalmatia, Croatia], BM001167212, https://data.nhm.ac.uk/dataset/ collection-specimens/resource/05ff2255-c38a-40c9-b657-4ccb55ab2feb/ record/8288390
19388*	933	quinquelocularis ‘quinquelobata’	Lessina, Nolte [ Germany] ( Figs 17–19 )
19394	9274	‘elongata’	Adriatic [Dalmatia, Croatia]
19389*	887	quinquelocularis ‘quinquelobata’	New York
19393*	1180	quinquelocularis	Iles Chausey , France [5] ( Figs 13–16 ); BM001167209, https://data.nhm.ac.uk/ object/e009b8c3-8971-4099-922f-6f6f555a01ad).

1 On the slide label: “Genoa 1828”

2 No coverslip or specimens

3 Given as 937 in error.

4 W has specimens from ‘Kützing 936’ (W0088953), not present in BM. These are specimens of Biddulphia quinquelocularis from Dalmatia, Croatia. They have not been examined.

5 https://websites.rbge.org.uk/algae/collections/ Biddulphia _WalkerArnott_Foreign_1.jpg