Desmid of the month
July 2003

Micrasterias fimbriata

In the Netherlands Micrasterias fimbriata is a rare species, mainly to be encountered in mesotrophic quaking fen regions at the transition of Pleistocene and Holocene deposits. On a superficial view it somewhat resembles the more common species Micrasterias rotata but its habit is more delicate as lobules of the last order are denticulate in stead of emarginate. At the basal and apical semicell angles those denticulations are even transformed into curved spinules.

The herewith figured cell was met with in a Pleistocene moorland pool in 1999, a good ten years after which this pool had recovered from serious eutrophication (Coesel 1998).