Help. Oamaru diatom ID

Beatsy · Post by **Beatsy** » Fri Mar 21, 2014 7:34 am

I'm sure it's nothing new, but I can't ID the diatom below (picked out of cleaned Oamaru diatomite from Williams Bluff, N.Z.).

I've exhausted all my reference books and looked at nearly every image on the Oamaru Diatoms site twice. As I'm still low on the learning curve, I don't know which genus to use as the start point - so the online databases aren't much help to me yet.

It may be an embarassingly-common species, but I'd be grateful for any help or ideas at this point.

I included a series of focus slabs with the main stacked image to give a better idea of the 3d shape (in case it's important).

Thanks.

carlos.uruguay · Post by **carlos.uruguay** » Fri Mar 21, 2014 7:22 pm

I could not find the diatom of your photo.
I only found some similar genus:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/casgeology ... 64/detail/

Cactusdave · Post by **Cactusdave** » Sat Mar 22, 2014 3:59 am

Nicely photographed whatever it is. Shape wise it reminds me of Triceratium, but that's a very variable Genus. Are you based in the UK? Have you tried showing it to Klaus Kemp? http://www.diatoms.co.uk/

Beatsy · Post by **Beatsy** » Sat Mar 22, 2014 1:49 pm

Found it! It's Cerataulus...

http://www.picolay.icbm.de/forum/Cerataulus300pr.jpg

Thanks both for your comments. Yes, I am in the UK and had just sent email to Klaus - then I turned up a lead (to Cerataulus) and confirmed it through the obscure link above...

...and then found it was on the Oamaru Diatoms site all along

Cerataulus Subangulatus