Friday, April 20, 2018

[Plankton • 2018] Syracosphaera azureaplaneta sp. nov. and Revision of Syracosphaera corolla Lecal, 1966


Syracosphaera azureaplaneta
 Young, Bown, Cros, Hagino & Jordan, 2018

 Abstract 
Here we show that the extant coccolithophore Syracosphaera corolla Lecal, 1966 comprises two consistently different non-intergrading morphotypes characterised respectively by exothecal coccoliths with wide and narrow central-areas. These are interpreted as separate species and so a new species is described, Syracosphaera azureaplaneta, and a revised description is given for S. corolla.

Keywords Coccolithophores, Syracosphaera, extent



Syracosphaera azureaplaneta sp. nov.

Synonymy: Syracosphaera corolla (Lecal, 1966); Okada & McIntyre, 1977, pl. 6, figs 1-2; Nishida, 1979, pl.6, fig. 4; Winter & Siesser, 1994, fig. 107; Young et al., 2003, pl. 19, figs 14-15; Malinverno et al., 2008, fig. 76.
Umbellosphaera corolla (Lecal, 1966) Gaarder in Heimdal & Gaarder, 1981, pl. 6, figs 53, 57.
Gaarderia corolla (Lecal, 1966) Kleijne, 1993, pl.6, fig. 3-5; Cros & Fortuño, 2002 fig. 29 A. 

Derivation of name: From Latin azureusblue (adjective, feminine form azurea), and planetaplanet (noun, feminine). Named for the BBC documentary series Blue Planet in recognition of its work and that of its presenter, Sir David Attenborough, in promoting understanding of the marine realm. 

Distribution. Sazureaplaneta has a very broad distribution occurring from the tropics to the sub-arctic and in all the major oceans.

Jeremy R. Young, Paul R. Bown, Lluisa Cros, Kyoko Hagino and Richard W. Jordan. 2018. Syracosphaera azureaplaneta sp. nov. and Revision of Syracosphaera corolla Lecal, 1966. J. Nannoplankton Res. 38(1),  

New ocean plankton species named after BBC's Blue Planet series https://shar.es/1L9BQ0 via @uclnews