Marine benthic diatoms in the newly discovered coral reefs, off Basra coast, Southern Iraq Author Al-Handal, Adil Y. Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Gothenburg, Sweden Author Thomas, Evan W. Biology Department, Waubonsee Community College, Sugar Grove, Illinois, USA Author Pennesi, Chiara Department of Life and Environmental Sciences, Polytechnic University of Marche, Ancona, Italia text Phytotaxa 2018 2018-10-12 372 2 111 152 http://dx.doi.org/10.11646/phytotaxa.372.2.1 journal article 10.11646/phytotaxa.372.2.1 1179-3163 13728822 Paralia sulcata (Ehrenberg) Cleve (1873: 7) ( Fig. 7 ) References : Hendey 1964 , p. 73, pl. 23, fig. 5; Witkowski et al. 2000 , p. 37, pl. 8, figs 10, 11. Features : Diameter 40–70 μm. Description : Valves circular with flat to slightly convex and hyaline center. Valve face with a ring of short and radiate markings. Remarks : The genus Paralia includes several species which are difficult to separate without observations with electron microscopes ( Crawford 1979 ), this is mainly due to different valve types of the species. Observations with SEM revealed several taxa previously described as P. sulcata ( Macgillivary & Kaczmarska 2013 ) . The present specimens were assigned to P. sulcata based on matching with illustrations of the species in the literature. Ecology and Distribution : A marine cosmopolitan species, normally found on sediment but occasionally in the plankton. Previously reported from the Gulf ( Hendey 1964 , Al-Kandari et al. 2009 ). Frequent in Basra corals.