Morphology and molecular phylogeny of Gomphonemopsis sieminskae sp. nov. isolated from brackish waters of the East China Sea coast

We describe the new species from brackish waters of the East China Sea littoral near Ningbo, China. Two diatom strains isolated from sp. were successfully grown, then analyzed by light (LM) and scanning electron (SEM) microscopy. The new species is compared to known species, and similarities to . and . are emphasized. Although the size metric data overlap and the external views are fairly similar, the two taxa differ in their valve interior. Molecular barcoding strongly discriminated from cf. , while L gene-based phylogeny showed to be sister to . In this respect our results confirm the recent discovery, based on molecular data, that is a close-relative taxon to , and place it in instead of as inferred solely from morphology.