vs

Cocconeis neodiminuta compared with Cocconeis pinnata

Taxonomic Classification

Rank
Kingdom same	Chromista (Chromista)	Chromista (Chromista)
Phylum same	Ochrophyta (Ochrophyta)	Ochrophyta (Ochrophyta)
Class same	Bacillariophyceae (Bacillariophyceae)	Bacillariophyceae (Bacillariophyceae)
Order same	Achnanthales (Achnanthales)	Achnanthales (Achnanthales)
Family same	Cocconeidaceae	Cocconeidaceae
Genus same	Cocconeis	Cocconeis
Species	Cocconeis neodiminuta	Cocconeis pinnata

Evolutionary Relationship

and share a common ancestor at the Genus level: Cocconeis.

View Genus: Cocconeis

Conservation Status

NE — Not Evaluated

Physical Characteristics

Attribute
Diet	—	—
Average Lifespan	—	—
Average Length	—	—
Average Weight	—	—

Habitat & Geographic Range

Habitat

Native to Europe and South America, inhabiting ecosystems characteristic of the region.

Range

Distributed across Brazil, Norway, and Sweden.

Habitat

Native to Europe and South America, inhabiting ecosystems characteristic of the region.

Range

Distributed across Brazil, Norway, and Sweden.

Cocconeis neodiminuta is a small, adnate diatom in the family Cocconeidaceae, distinguished from related species within the genus by its diminutive frustule size and specific silica wall ornamentation patterns resolvable by electron microscopy. As a member of the genus Cocconeis, this species is an epiphytic organism that lives attached to the surfaces of aquatic plants, filamentous algae, sediment particles, and submerged solid substrates in freshwater and occasionally brackish environments. The frustule—the intricate silica cell wall that encases the diatom cell—consists of two overlapping halves (valves) with species-specific striation patterns and pore fields (areolae) used in taxonomic identification. Cocconeis neodiminuta has been documented from freshwater environments across South America and various other regions, suggesting a broad cosmopolitan distribution consistent with many freshwater diatom taxa. The species, like other cocconeid diatoms, reproduces primarily by asexual binary fission, with periodic sexual reproduction through auxospore formation to restore cell size after successive divisions cause progressive size reduction. As a photosynthetic primary producer in benthic communities, this diatom contributes to the base of aquatic food webs and participates in the biological cycling of silicon—an element critical to diatom frustule production and removed from solution as diatoms proliferate. Its conservation status has not been evaluated by the IUCN.

Cocconeis pinnata is a marine and brackish-water diatom in the family Cocconeidaceae, distinguished within the genus by the pinnate (feather-like) arrangement of its striae and the specific valve morphology of its silica frustule. As an adnate epiphyte, C. pinnata attaches to a wide variety of substrates in coastal and estuarine environments, including seagrass blades, macroalgal surfaces, sandy sediments, and biogenic hard substrates such as shells and coral rubble. The species has been documented from tropical and subtropical marine habitats across the Indo-Pacific and Atlantic, with records from South American coastal waters as well as other warm marine regions. Cocconeis pinnata plays a significant ecological role in seagrass ecosystems, where epiphytic diatom communities including this species form a productive biofilm layer on leaf surfaces that serves as food for grazing invertebrates, sea urchins, and small fish. In areas of excessive nutrient loading, however, proliferation of epiphytic algae including diatoms can shade out the underlying seagrass, contributing to meadow decline. The production and dissolution of silica frustules by marine benthic diatoms contributes to the benthic silica cycle, linking biological productivity with the geochemistry of shallow coastal sediments. Species-level identification of Cocconeis taxa requires electron microscopy due to subtle morphological differences. Conservation status has not been formally assessed.