Resumen de Planktoniella sol, a New Host for the Ectoparasitic Dinophyta Paulsenella Chatton from the Northeastern Arabian Sea

Aishwarya Purushothaman, Lathika Cicily Thomas, K. B. Padmakumar

• Parasitic dinoflagellates, an essential component of the marine ecosystem, are mainly represented by five genera, Myxodinium, Paulsenella, Dubosquella, Coccidinium and Amoebophrya, infecting marine diatoms. All members of dinophyte Paulsenella are ectoparasites of diatoms and presently include three species. The marine diatom Planktoniella sol infection by a parasitic dinoflagellate Paulsenella chaetoceratis from the northeastern Arabian Sea was observed during the spring intermonsoon 2012. ~17 parasitic cells represented by their dinospores infect the host diatom. The diatom P. sol forms a new host record for the parasite, and the report is the first of its kind from the Indian waters.