Guide to Cymatopleura

Note that a number of taxa within Cymatopleura have been, or will be, transferred to Surirella (Ruck et al. 2016). This page will remain posted for some time, but practitioners should be aware of the transfers and pending transfers to Surirella.

The genus Surirella was revised (Ruck et al. 2016) based on phylogenetic relationships (Ruck and Kociolek 2005, Ruck and Theriot 2011, Ruck et al. 2016a, 2016b). In order for nomenclature to align with evolutionary relationships, a genus-level reclassification was published (Ruck et al. 2016).

Previously, the genus Cymatopleura included cells of generally large in size, often over 200 µm in length. The valves were elliptic to panduriform. Species in Cymatopleura possessed characteristic undulations on the valve face. In girdle view, Cymatopleura was distinct because of the undulating valve face. The raphe was located within a shallow keel, positioned along entire valve margin. In living cells a single plastid, composed of two plates was present. The plastid was highly lobed and extend onto the girdle elements.

Cymatopleura was epipelic in freshwaters, and found in waters of high conductance and alkaline waters.