3 NEW SPECIES OF THAUMATOMASTIX (THAUMATOMASTIGIDAE, PROTISTA-INCERTAE-SEDIS), A UBIQUITOUS GENUS FROM THE ANTARCTIC ICE BIOTA

Recent opportunities to sample live material from in particular the An tarctic ice biota have resulted in the discovery of numerous autotroph ic and heterotrophic flagellate components of this community. In certa in samples, some of these hitherto neglected types of organisms are ob viously key components of the ice biota. One such example is found in species of the heterotrophic flagellate genus Thaumatomastix (Thaumato mastigidae, Protista incertae sedis). Three new species are described (T. splendida sp. nov., T. fragilis sp. nov., and T. fusiformis sp. no v.) one of which (T. splendida) has been found to be ubiquitous in Ant arctic sea ice and also most likely a significant member of the Arctic sea ice community.