• Vibrio paxillifer : O.F.Müller (1786)
• Oscillatoria paxillifer : (O.F.Müller) Schrank (1823)
• Oscillaria paxillifera : (O.F.Müller) Schrank (1823)
• Nitzschia paxillifer : (O.F.Müller) Heiberg (1863)
• Homoeocladia paxillifer : (O.F.Müller) Elmore (1921)
• Bacillaria paxillifer : (O.F.Müller) T.Marsson (1901)

This is a colony-forming species, with the cells joined to each other on the long side. In girdle view the cells appear rectangular. The shape of the colony may be elongated, square or irregular, due to the “Carpenter's Rule” movement of the cells on order to move around in the water. In valve view the cells have a lanceolate shape. From the thin central raphe, which runs from one extremity of the cell to the other, parallel striae emanate, running across the valve surface up to the valve margin. In addition there are fibulae. There are two chloroplasts in each extremity of the cell.

Cosmopolitan, planktonic and benthic. Found in marine waters,.

Distribution:   as Bacillaria paradoxa in Europe: Austria (Jahn & Schmid, 2007), Germany (Jahn & Schmid, 2007), Romania (Caraus, 2002), Spain (Ros, Marín-Murcia & Aboal 2009); in South America: Argentina (Rodriguez et al., 2006); in South-west Asia: Iran (Jamaloo et al., 2006); Australia and New Zealand: New South Wales (Day et al. 1995), Queensland (Day et al., 1995), South Australia (Day et al. 1995), Victoria (Day et al., 1995).

As Bacillaria paxillifer in Europe: Croatia (Vilicic et al., 2009), Denmark (Jahn & Schmid, 2007), Finland (Weckstrom & Juggins, 2006); Atlantic Islands: Canary Islands (Schmid, 2007); North America: Alabama (Schmid, 2007), Florida (Schmid, 2007), Nova Scotia (Kim, Garbary and McLachlan, 2004), USA (Schmid, 2007); in Africa: Egypt (Schmid 2007), Gambia (Schmid, 2007); Australia and New Zealand: Eastern Australia (Schmid, 2007); in the Pacific Ocean: Hawaiian Islands (Sherwood, 2004).

The algae of Romania., Studii si Cercetari, Universitatea Bacau, Biologie 7, Caraus I., 2002, 1-694

Biodiversity of diatom assemblages in a Mediterranean semiarid stream: implications for conservation., Marine and Freshwater Research 60:, Ros M.D., Marín-Murcia J.P., Aboal M., 2009, 14-24

The 'paradox' diatom Bacillaria paxillifer (Bacillariophyta) revisited., Journal of Phycology 43:, Schmid A.-M. M., 2007, 139-155

Revision of the brackish-freshwater diatom genus Bacillaria Gmelin (Bacillariophyta) with the description of a new variety and two new species., European Journal of Phycology 42:, Jahn R., Schmid A.-M.M., 2007, 295-312

Phytoplankton dynamics in Pomquet Harbour, Nova Scotia: a lagoon in the southern Gulf of St., Lawrence. Phycologia 43, Kim K.Y., Garbary D.J., McLachlan J.L., 2004, 311-328.

Coastal diatom-environment relationships from the Gulf of Finland, Baltic Sea ., Journal of Phycology 42:, Weckstrom K., Juggins S., 2006, 21-35.

Checklist of Baltic Sea Phytoplankton Species. Baltic Sea Environment Proceedings No. 95, Helsinki Commission Baltic Marine Environment Protection Commission, Hällfors G., 2004,

Composition and annual cycle of phytoplankton assemblages in the northeastern Adriatic Sea., Botanica Marina 52(4), Vilicic, Djakovac, Buric, Z. & Bosak, 2009, 291-305.

Epixylic algae from a polluted lowland river of Buenos Aires province (Argentina), Cryptogamie, Algologie 27, Rodriguez P.L., Pizarro H., Maidana N., Dos Santos Afonso e Bonaventura S.M., 2006, 63-83

Bibliographic check-list of non-marine algae in Australia., Flora of Australia Supplementary Series 4:, Day, S.A., Wickham, R.P., Entwisle, T.J. & Tyler, P.A., 1995, vii + 276

Diatomaceen von Neu-Vorpommern, Rügen und Usedom., Zeitschrift für Angewandte Mikroskopie und Klinische Chemie 6:, Marsson T., 1901, 253-268

Study of diatoms flora in Jajrood river., Sciences and Technology of Environment 26, Jamaloo F., Falahian F., Nejadsatari T., Majd, 2006, 98-112.

Bibliographic checklist of the nonmarine algae of the Hawaiian Islands. Records of the Hawaii Biological Survey for 2003, Bishop Museum Occasional Papers 80, Sherwood A.R., 2004, 1-26