A new small marine Diploneis species (Diploneidaceae, Bacillariophyta) from Guangdong Province, China

A Diploneis species new to science is described here, collected from an intertidal sandy beach in Guangdong Province, China. The species has morphological features such as small elongated-elliptical valves, a linear longitudinal canal open outside by one row of C-shaped areolae throughout the whole length, a straight and simple raphe, alveoli occluded externally by a vola and internally by a thin hymen, perforations arranged in a hexagonal array that occupy approximately one-fourth to one-sixth of the valve width, and the other part of the alveolate striae covered by a broadly semilune hyaline area at the middle of the valve. Differences with other similar taxa of this genus are discussed.