Skip to main content Skip to main navigation menu Skip to site footer
Responsive image
Issue: Vol. 641 No. 2: 18 Mar. 2024
Type: Article
Published: 2024-03-18
DOI: 10.11646/phytotaxa.641.2.2
Page range: 99-111
Abstract views: 49
PDF downloaded: 1

Lutophila gen. nov., a new diatom genus from the hottest place on Earth, Lut Desert, Iran

Research Institute of Forests and Rangelands, Agricultural Research, Education and Extension Organization (AREEO), Tehran, IRAN
St. Croix Watershed Research Station, Science Museum of Minnesota, Marine on St. Croix, Minnesota, 55047 USA
INSTAAR, 4001 Discovery Drive, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado, 80303 USA
Dumlupinar University, Department of Biology, Art & Science Faculty, Kütahya, TURKEY
Geological Survey of Iran, Tehran, IRAN
Kanone-Sabze-Fars, Shiraz, IRAN
Department of Agroecology and Forest Utilization, University of Rzeszów, Ćwiklińskiej 1A Str., 35-601 Rzeszów, POLAND
Bacillariophyta extreme temperature extremophile hypersalinity Lut Desert Lutiphila taxonomy Algae

Abstract

The Lut Desert is one of the world’s driest and hottest large deserts. This large basin has shallow groundwater pools that have been studied little for microbial flora, especially diatoms, and the present study is the second attempt. We report a new genus with one new species and the related morphotypes. The genus Lutophila and its type species L. iranica is found in hypersaline pools and a saline river in the Central Lut Desert depression, an area known as the hottest spot in the world. The morphology, systematic position, distribution, and ecological conditions of the new species and its morphotypes are discussed. The new genus Lutophila has a linear-lanceolate, symmetric outline with broadly rounded apices and two kinds of areolae, one on the valve face and one on the valve mantle; these characters resemble those shared by the diatom genera Krasskella, Biremis, Chamaepinnularia and Oestrupia. Lutophila iranica exhibits two morphotypes with similar outline; however, L. iranica morphotype 2 is wider than the L. iranica morphotype 1 and has a more distinctive central area.

References

  1. Alaee-Taleghani, M. (2005) Geomorphology of Iran. Goomes Publishing Company, Tehran, Iran. 404 pp.
  2. ANSP (2023) Academy of Natural Science of Philadelphia. ANSP Diatom New Taxon File. Available from: http://symbiont.ansp.org/dntf/gallery.php?g=Oestrupia. (Accessed: 6 July 2022).
  3. APHA (2017) Standard methods for the examination of water and wastewater, 23rd ed. American Public Health Association, Washington DC. 695 pp.
  4. Azarderakhsh, M., Prakash, S., Zhao, Y. & AghaKouchak, A. (2020) Satellite-based analysis of extreme land surface temperatures and diurnal variability across the hottest place on Earth. IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Letters 17 (12): 2025–2029. https://doi.org/10.1109/LGRS.2019.2962055
  5. Azarkina, G.N. & Zamani, A. (2019) The Aelurillina Simon, 1901 (Aranei: Salticidae) of Iran: a check-list and three new species of Aelurillus Simon, 1884 and Proszynskiana Logunov, 1996. Arthropoda Selecta 28 (1): 83–97. https://doi.org/10.15298/arthsel.28.1.07
  6. Bishop, I. & Spaulding, S. (2014) Krasskella. In: Diatoms of North America. Available from: https://diatoms.org/genera/krasskella (Accessed: 6 July 2022).
  7. Bukhtiyarova, L.N. (2015) Classification of uniserial striae in Bacillariophyta with bipolar frustule. Algologia 25 (2): 198–210 http://dx.doi.org/10.15407/alg25.02.198
  8. Compère, P. (1981) Algues des deserts d’Iran. Bulletin du Jardin botanique national de Belgique/Bulletin van de Nationale Plantentuin van Belgie 51 (1/2): 3–40. https://doi.org/10.2307/3667734
  9. Delgado, C., Feio, M.J., Pardo, I. & Almeida, S.F. (2020) Effects of water temperature over benthic diatom communities: insights from thermal springs. Plant Ecology and Diversity 13 (3–4): 325–337. https://doi.org/10.1080/17550874.2020.1762133
  10. Cox, E.J. (2004) Pore occlusions in raphid diatoms-a reassessment of their structure and terminology, with particular reference to members of the Cymbellales. Diatom 20: 33–46. https://doi.org/10.11464/diatom1985.20.0_33
  11. Edlund, M.B., Andresen, N.A. & Soninkhishig, N. (2001) Morphology of Oestrupia zachariasii and its transfer to Biremis. Diatom Research 16 (2): 295–306. https://doi.org/10.1080/0269249X.2001.9705521
  12. Hofmann, G., Werum, M. & Lange-Bertalot, H. (2011) Diatomeen im Süßwasser-Benthos von Mitteleuropa. Bestimmungsflora Kieselalgen für die ökologische Praxis. Über 700 der häufigsten Arten und ihre Ökologie. Koeltz Scientific Books, Königstein. 908 pp.
  13. Léonard, J. (1991–1992) Contribution à l’étude de la flore et de la végétation des déserts d’Iran. Etude de la végétation: Analyse phytosociologique et phytochorologique des groupments végétaux. Fasc. 10 (1–2). Jardin Botanique National de Belgique. Meise (translated by Ghorbanli M, 2003 in Persian). 411 pp.
  14. Kamali, K. & Anderson, S.C. (2015) A new Iranian Phrynocephalus (Reptilia: Squamata: Agamidae) from the hottest place on earth and a key to the genus Phrynocephalus in southwestern Asia and Arabia. Zootaxa 3904 (2): 249–260. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.3904.2.4
  15. Kardavani, P. (1978) Role of biotic and environmental factors in the extension of the Lut Desert in Iran. Annals of Arid Zone 17 (1): 92–98.
  16. Lyons, W.B., Welch, S.A., Gardner, C.B., Sharifi, A., AghaKouchak, A., Mashkour, M., Djamali, M., Matinzadeh, Z., Palacio, S. & Akhani, H. (2020) The hydrochemistry of shallow groundwater from Lut Desert, Iran: The hottest place on earth. Journal of Arid Environments 178: 104143. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaridenv.2020.104143
  17. Mazkour, S., Hosseinzadeh, S. & Shekarforoush, Sh. (2017) Evidence of heat-resistant microorganisms with a special emphasis on filamentous Actinomycetes in hyper-arid soils of Gandom Beryan area, Lut Desert, Iran. Iranian Journal of Microbiology 9 (6): 331–337.
  18. Mildrexler, D.J., Zhao, M. & Running, S.W. (2011) Satellite Finds Highest Land Skin Temperatures on Earth. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society 92: 855–860. https://doi.org/10.1175/2011BAMS3067.1
  19. Mildrexler, D.J., Zhao, M. & Running, S.W. (2006) Where are the hottest spots on earth? Eos, Transactions, American Geophysical Union 87 (43): 461–467. http://doi.org/10.1029/2006EO430002
  20. Mohseni, M., Abbaszadeh, J. & Nasrollahi Omran, A. (2014) Radiation resistance of native Deinococcus spp. isolated from the Lout Desert of Iran “the hottest place on Earth”. International Journal of Environmental Science and Technology 11: 1939–1946. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13762-014-0643-7
  21. Mahmudi, F. (1970) Flowing water network of the Lut plain. Human Geography Research, Geographical report No. 3: 47–82. [in Persian]
  22. Mostofi, A. (1972) Shahdad and historical geography of Dasht-Lut. Research project of Lut, Publication No. 8, Geographical report, University of Tehran, Tehran, 385 pp. [in Persian]
  23. Potapova, M., Ponander, K.C., Lowe, R.L., Clason, T.A. & Bahls, L.L. (2003) Small-celled Nupela species from North America. Diatom Research 18: 293–306.
  24. Round, F.E., Crawford, R.M. & Mann, D.G. (1990) The Diatoms: Biology and morphology of the genera. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 747 pp.
  25. Schwentner, M., Rudov, A. & Rajaei, H. (2020) Some like it hot: Phallocryptus fahimii sp. n. (Crustacea: Anostraca: Thamnocephalidae) from the Lut desert, the hottest place on Earth. Zoology in the Middle East 66 (4): 1–11. https://doi.org/10.1080/09397140.2020.1805139
  26. Spaulding, S. & Edlund, M. (2009) Chamaepinnularia. In: Diatoms of North America. Available from: https://diatoms.org/genera/chamaepinnularia (Accessed: 17 July 2023).
  27. Spaulding, S.A., Potapova, M.G., Bishop, I.W., Lee, S.S., Gasperak, T.S., Jovanovska, E. & Edlund, M.B. (2021) Diatoms.org: supporting taxonomists, connecting communities. Diatom Research 36 (4): 291–304.
  28. https://doi.org/10.1080/0269249X.2021.2006790
  29. UNESCO (1992–2024) World Heritage Centre. the List, World Heritage List, Iran, Lut Desert. Available from: https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1505 (accessed: 6 July 2022).
  30. Vyverman, W. & Compère, P. (1991) Nupela giluwensis genera and sp. nov. a new genus of naviculoid diatoms. Diatom Research 6: 175–179.
  31. Witkowski, A., Lange-Bertalot, H. & Metzeltin, D. (2000) Diatom flora of marine coasts I. Iconographia Diatomologica 7. A.R.G Gantner, Königstein, 925 pp.