Studies on woloszynskioid dinoflagellates VII. Description of Borghiella andersenii sp. nov.: light and electron microscopy and phylogeny based on LSU rDNA

Abstract

Freshwater woloszynskioid dinoflagellates were collected independently in Scotland and Portugal and found to belong to a previously unknown species of the genus Borghiella, here described as B. andersenii. The new species differs in morphology and nuclear-encoded LSU rDNA and ITS sequences from B. dodgei and B. tenuissima, the two species presently comprising the genus Borghiella. Unusual features of the new species were observed particularly during asexual reproduction, which took place in the motile stage – as in many other dinoflagellates – or in a so-called division cyst, recalling cell division in the family Tovelliaceae. Such diversity in cell division is rarely reported in dinoflagellates. Morphologically Borghiella andersenii differs from B. tenuissima in being only slightly compressed dorsoventrally whereas the latter species is flat. The slight compression is also visible in lateral view. Borghiella andersenii and B. dodgei are more challenging to discriminate but the apical structure complex is only half the length in B. andersenii compared with B. dodgei (3–4 vs 6 µm). This difference can only be accounted for in the scanning electron microscope. At the light microscopy level the epicone in B. andersenii is rounded whereas it is conical in B. dodgei. Sexual reproduction in Borghiella andersenii was homothallic by formation of planozygotes, followed by apparent resting cysts. Phylogenetic studies on woloszynskioids have recently shown that they comprise a polyphyletic assemblage, which has been divided into the three families Borghiellaceae, Tovelliaceae and Suessiaceae. New species of the three families are now being found rapidly in many parts of the world, proving that the techniques required to investigate these small, morphologically similar dinoflagellates are now in place and proving that such ‘gymnodinioids’ or ‘woloszynskioids’ comprise an often overlooked biological entity in both marine and freshwater biotopes. Based on LSU rDNA, B. andersenii is most closely related to B. tenuissima.