Three 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 Antarctic ice biota have resulted in the discovery of numerous autotrophic and heterotrophic flagellate components of this community. In certain samples, some of these hitherto neglected types of organisms are obviously key components of the ice biota. One such example is found in species of the heterotrophic flagellate genus Thaumatomastix (Thaumatomastigidae, Protista incertae sedis). Three new species are described (T. splendida sp. nov., T. fragilis sp. nov., and T. fusiformis sp, nov.) one of which (T. splendida) has been found to be ubiquitous in Antarctic sea ice and also most likely a significant member of the Arctic sea ice community.