Protoperidinium tricingulatum sp. nov. (Dinophyceae), a new motile form of a round, brown, and spiny dinoflagellate cyst

SUMMARY A small, broadly ovoidal and heterotrophic dinoflagel- late containing round, brownish, and spiny cyst was found in the water column of Huibertsplaat in the Wadden Sea off the coast of the Netherlands. This dinoflagellate had these conspicuous morphological characters: a five-sided first apical plate (1'), only three cingular plates, and an extremely small first antapical plate. Based on these morphological features, Protope- ridinium tricingulatum Kawami, vanWezel, Koeman et Matsuoka is described as a new species. The flagellar pore of P. tricingulatum is covered with a small fin, which rises from the left side of the right sulcal plate to the large V-shaped posterior sulcal plate. This feature suggests that P. tricingulatum is assigned to the Abe's Monovela Group. The cyst stage of P. tricingulatum was positively linked to the vegetative stage by comparison of the ribosomal 5.8S rDNA, internal transcribed spacers (ITS1 and ITS2). Living cysts of P. tricingula- tum are round, brownish, and covered with many slender spines bearing capitate or cauliforate distal ends. The cyst also possesses a theropylic archeopyle formed by a slit corresponding to parasutures between three apical and two apical intercaraly plates. These morphological characters indicate that this species is morphologically related to two dinoflagellate cyst- genera Islandinium and Echinidinium.