Revision of the phylogeny of Placididea (Stramenopiles): Molecular and morphological diversity of novel placidid protists from extreme aquatic environments.

Recent studies suggested that the diversity of microbial eukaryotes in hypersaline environments is widely underestimated. Placidids are a group of heterotrophic stramenopile flagellates that are frequently found in these environments, but up to now only very few species were isolated and fully described, mostly from marine or brackish water sites. In this study, we extend the known diversity of Placididea by three new genera (Allegra, Haloplacidia, and Placilonga) compromising nine new species, isolated from athalassic, mostly hypersaline environments (Allegra dunaii, Allegra atacamiensis, Allegra hypersalina, Haloplacidia cosmopolita, Suigetsumonas keniensis) and marine waters (Placilonga atlantica, Placidia azorensis, Placidia abyssalis, Wobblia pacifica) including a description of their morphology and molecular phylogeny.

Global comparison of bicosoecid Cafeteria-like flagellates from the deep ocean and surface waters, with reorganization of the family Cafeteriaceae.

Cafeteria is one of the most common and ecologically significant genera of heterotrophic nanoflagellates in marine plankton. We could isolate and cultivate 29 strains morphologically similar to Cafeteria obtained from surface waters and the deep sea all over the world's ocean. Morphological characterization obtained by high resolution microscopy revealed only small differences between the strains.