New Molecular and Phenotypic Data on Encyonema simile (Bacillariophyceae)

Encyonema simile Krammer is a rare species known from only six locations worldwide. A clone of this species was isolated from a waterlogged soil sample collected in June 2021 in the Zabelovsky cluster, Bastak State Nature Reserve (Jewish Autonomous Region, Russia), and identified using light and scanning electron microscopy. Phylogenetic analysis based on rbcL gene sequence comparison showed that the clone belongs to the genus Encyonema. Vegetative cell enlargement was described for E. simile for the first time, and this is the first mention of this process in the genus Encyonema. As a result of the study the information on the phenotype (the upper limit of cell length, the number of striae and areolae in 10 μm, the structure of the cingulum) was supplemented, and the first molecular data were obtained.