vs

Cocconeis neodiminuta compared with Cocconeis neothumensis

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 neothumensis

Evolutionary Relationship

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

Ansehen 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 neothumensis is an epiphytic diatom in the family Cocconeidaceae, closely related to the type species Cocconeis thumensis but representing a morphologically and molecularly distinct taxon distinguished by the specific architecture of its silica frustule valves. The genus Cocconeis comprises adnate diatoms that attach firmly to solid substrates in aquatic environments, including the surfaces of submerged macrophytes, periphyton mats, and sediment particles in rivers, lakes, and coastal habitats. Cocconeis neothumensis has been recorded from freshwater bodies in South America and other regions, contributing to the benthic periphyton communities that coat submerged surfaces in well-lit aquatic habitats. The frustule ornamentation—including the density and arrangement of transapical striae and the morphology of the raphe system—provides the key morphological characters used to distinguish this species from its congeners under light and electron microscopy. Like all diatoms, C. neothumensis requires dissolved silicic acid to construct its frustule and depends on phosphorus and nitrogen availability for growth, making it a sensitive indicator of nutrient conditions in monitored water bodies. Periphytic diatom communities including Cocconeis species are widely used in ecological assessment frameworks such as the European Water Framework Directive to evaluate the biological quality of freshwater bodies based on assemblage composition. Conservation status is not formally evaluated.