A centric revolution? Or natural nomenclature?

Taxonomy is considered to have originated with Carl Linnaeus and his publication of Systema Naturae in 1735. Linneaus was concerned with a system to organize and subdivide organisms, in particular, plants. Diatom taxonomy and its system of naming, or nomenclature, organizes diatoms quite well into different categories of similar features. In many groups, however, diatom nomenclature does not reflect the evolutionary relationship of species.

Diatomists work toward establishing a classification system that is "natural" and echoes evolution. As a result, diatom names are revised over time according to provisions of the International Code of Algae, Fungi and Plants.

In a recent publication, Nakov et al. (2015) resolve many of the nomenclatural inconsistencies in the centric genera Cyclotella, Puncticulata and Handmannia. Most of the species names in these genera have been transferred to an older name with priority, Lindavia. At the same time, these transfers bring the nomenclature in closer alignment with natural lineages. This work to align monophyletic groups with names is an important step in advancing the field.

What? New names? There is no reason to get uptight or sweat about it. Diatoms of the US allows you to search by any name, old or new, and still find the taxon you want. Try it, by entering "Lindavia" in the "Taxon Search" box in the upper right of this page. You can also search the older names "Cyclotella" and "Puncticulata".

Read the publication Nakov et al. (2015) by connecting with the LINK to the right. The transfers are summarized here:

Lindavia affinis (Grunow) T. Nakov et al.
Lindavia antiqua (W. Smith) T. Nakov et al.
Lindavia arctica (S.I. Genkal & Kharitonov) T. Nakov et al.
Lindavia armenica (L.P. Loginova & Pirumova) T. Nakov et al.
Lindavia austriaca (M. Peragallo) T. Nakov et al.
Lindavia azigzensis (R.J. Flower, F. Gasse & H. Håkansson) T. Nakov et al.
Lindavia baicalensis (Skvortzow & Meyer) T. Nakov et al.
Lindavia balatonis (Pantocsek) T. Nakov et al.
Lindavia bavarica (Klee, Schmidt & Müller) T. Nakov et al.
Lindavia bodanica (Eulenstein ex Grunow) T. Nakov et al.
Lindavia cathayana (Wang) T. Nakov et al.
Lindavia changbaiensis (Stachura-Suchoples & Jahn) T. Nakov et al.
Lindavia chantaica (Kuzmina & S.I. Genkal) T. Nakov et al.
Lindavia comensis (Grunow) T. Nakov et al.
Lindavia comta (Kützing) T. Nakov et al.
Lindavia comtaeformica (Khursevich) T. Nakov et al.
Lindavia comtaeformica var. spinata (Khursevich) T. Nakov et al.
Lindavia costata (L.P. Loginova, E.G. Lupikina, & G.K. Khursevich) T. Nakov et al.
Lindavia costata var. leprindus_(‘leprindica’) (R.J. Flower, S.P. Ozornina, & A. Kuzmina) T. Nakov et al.
Lindavia costata var. sibirica (A.P. Skabichevskij) T. Nakov et al.
Lindavia costei (J.C. Druart & F. Straub) T. Nakov et al.
Lindavia cretica (J. John & A. Economou-Amilli) T. Nakov et al.
Lindavia delicatula (Hustedt) T. Nakov et al.
Lindavia elymaea (A. Economou-Amilli) T. Nakov et al.
Lindavia eriensis (V. Houk, R. Klee & H. Tanaka) T. Nakov et al.
Lindavia fottii (Hustedt) T. Nakov et al.
Lindavia gracilis (T.A. Nikiteeva & Y.V. Likhoshway) T. Nakov et al.
Lindavia graeca (Kützing) T. Nakov et al.
Lindavia hercynica (F.E. Round & H. Håkansson) T. Nakov et al.
Lindavia horstii (S.I. Genkal & M. Kulikovskiy) T. Nakov et al.
Lindavia intermedia (E. Manguin ex Kociolek & Reviers) T. Nakov et al.
Lindavia iranica (T. Nejadsattari, S. Kheiri, S. Spaulding & M. Edlund) T. Nakov et al.
Lindavia jilinensis (Wang) T. Nakov et al.
Lindavia kathmanduensis (T. Hayashi) T. Nakov et al.
Lindavia kitabayashii (H. Tanaka) T. Nakov et al.
Lindavia kuetzingiana (Thwaites) T. Nakov et al.
Lindavia kuetzingiana var. radiosa (Fricke) T. Nakov et al.
Lindavia kurdica (Håkansson) T. Nakov et al.
Lindavia lacunarum (Hustedt) T. Nakov et al.
Lindavia lemanensis (Chodat) T. Nakov et al.
Lindavia melnikiae (S.I. Genkal & Bondarenko) T. Nakov et al.
Lindavia metochia (N. Ognjanova-Rumenova) T. Nakov et al.
Lindavia michiganiana (Skvortzow) T. Nakov et al.
Lindavia minuscula (Jurilj) T. Nakov et al.
Lindavia minuta (Skvortzow) T. Nakov et al.
Lindavia narochanica (S.I. Genkal & T.M. Mikheeva) T. Nakov et al.
Lindavia notata (E.I. Loseva) T. Nakov et al.
Lindavia ocellata (Pantocsek) T. Nakov et al.
Lindavia omarensis (Kuptzova) T. Nakov et al.
Lindavia ornata (Skvortzow) T. Nakov et al.
Lindavia ozensis (H. Tanaka & T. Nagumo) T. Nakov et al.
Lindavia paleo-ocellata (Vossel & Van de Vijver) T. Nakov et al.
Lindavia palustris (S.I. Genkal & M.S. Kulikovskiy) T. Nakov et al.
Lindavia paraocellata (A. Cvetkoska, P.B. Hamilton, N. Ognjanova-Rumenova & Z. Levkov) T. Nakov et al.
Lindavia parvula (L.P. Loginova) T. Nakov et al.
Lindavia polymorpha (B. Meyer & H. Håkansson) T. Nakov et al.
Lindavia praeminuta (Khursevich) T. Nakov et al.
Lindavia praetermissa (Lund) T. Nakov et al.
Lindavia prespanensis (A. Cvetkoska, P.B. Hamilton, N. Ognjanova-Rumenova & Z. Levkov) T. Nakov et al.
Lindavia pseudocomensis (W. Scheffler) T. Nakov et al.
Lindavia radiata (H. Tanaka) T. Nakov et al.
Lindavia radiosa (Grunow) De Toni & Forti
Lindavia radiosa var. lucida (Meister) T. Nakov et al.
Lindavia radiosa var. tenuis (Fricke) T. Nakov et al.
Lindavia reczickiae (Khursevich & L.P. Loginova) T. Nakov et al.
Lindavia reczickiae var. diversa (L.P. Loginova) T. Nakov et al.
Lindavia rhomboideo-elliptica (Skuja) T. Nakov et al.
Lindavia rhomboideo-elliptica var. rounda (Qi & Yang) T. Nakov et al.
Lindavia rossii (Håkansson) T. Nakov et al.
Lindavia schroeteri (Lemmermann) T. Nakov et al.
Lindavia schumannii (Grunow) T. Nakov et al.
Lindavia seczkinae (K. Stachura-Suchoples, S.I. Genkal & G. Khursevich) T. Nakov et al.
Lindavia servant-vildaryi var. elegans (V.V. Mukhina) T. Nakov et al.
Lindavia servant-vildaryi_(‘servant-vildary’) (V.V. Mukhina) T. Nakov et al.
Lindavia sevilleana (Deby) T. Nakov et al.
Lindavia sexnotata (Deby) T. Nakov et al.
Lindavia shanxiensis (Xie & Qi) T. Nakov et al.
Lindavia socialis (Schütt) De Toni & Forti
Lindavia strelnikovae (S.I. Genkal & Yarushina) T. Nakov et al.
Lindavia styriaca (Hustedt) T. Nakov et al.
Lindavia tanimurae (H. Tanaka & Saito-Kato) T. Nakov et al.
Lindavia temperiana (L.P. Loginova) T. Nakov et al.
Lindavia tenuistriata (Hustedt) T. Nakov et al.
Lindavia thienemannii (Jurilj) T. Nakov et al.
Lindavia trichonidea (A. Economou-Amilli) T. Nakov et al.
Lindavia trichonidea var. parva (A. Economou-Amilli) T. Nakov et al.
Lindavia tripartita (H. Håkansson) T. Nakov et al.
Lindavia undulata (F.E. Round & H. Håkansson) T. Nakov et al.
Lindavia versiformis (T. Hayashi) T. Nakov et al.
Lindavia wuethrichiana (J.C. Druart & F. Straub) T. Nakov et al.