Desmid of the month
October 2004

Staurastrum furcigerum

Staurastrum is an artificial genus, i.e., involves a number of species groups which mutually are but little affiliated. S. furcigerum belongs to a group that is characterized by a cell body provided with arm-like processes that are projected in three or more directions. In S. furcigerum, the processes in question arise on two different levels from the semicell body. They are relatively short and ornamented with concentric series of teeth, with a pair of extra large teeth at the end.  In the Netherlands S. furcigerum is rather common in mesotrophic, slightly acid to slightly alkaline water bodies as to be met with at the border line of Pleistocene and Holocene deposits.