TY - JOUR
TI - Coccolithophores in Polar Waters: Papposphaera sagittifera HET and HOL Revisited
AU - Thomsen, Helge Abildhauge
AU - Østergaard, Jette Buch
AU - Heldal, Mikal
TI - Coccolithophores in Polar Waters: Papposphaera sagittifera HET and HOL Revisited
AB - The re-examination of the lightly calcified Arctic coccolithophore species, Papposphaera sagittifera, has some inherent challenges due to the research history on this taxon. It is thus obvious in retrospect that the species description based on just a single specimen does not adequately account for the true identity of this taxon. Today we are aware of the existence of at least three species ofPapposphaera that have basically the same calyx design while being differentiated based on patterns of central area calcification. In order to remedy this we emend here the description of P. sagittifera and provide an epitype for the species. When realizing that species pairs ofPapposphaera and Turrisphaera share a life history, the new combination, P. borealis, was established to accommodate P. sagittifera and T. borealis. However, it turns out that ‘sagittifera’ is in fact the senior epithet by a few months, which means that the correct name for the species is P. sagittifera with T. borealis added as a synonym. While the P. sagittifera HET and HOL morphological variability across Arctic sites clearly leaves the impression of a single, fairly well defined species, the situation is different with respect to the occurrence of P. sagittifera in Antarctic waters. While there are obvious similarities between P. sagittifera HET across the Polar Regions there are also subtle differences, and most importantly it has been found that the Antarctic P. sagittifera shares a life history with a species of Turrisphaera that is markedly different from T. borealis. While awaiting molecular evidence the Antarctic material is tentatively referred to as P. sagittifera cfr.
VL - 2016
IS - Volume 55, Issue 1
PY - 2016
SN - 0065-1583
C1 - 1689-0027
SP - 33
EP - 50
DO - 10.4467/16890027AP.16.005.4046
UR - https://ejournals.eu/en/journal/acta-protozoologica/article/coccolithophores-in-polar-waters-papposphaera-sagittifera-het-and-hol-revisited
KW - Coccolithophore
KW - Papposphaera
KW - P. sagittifera
KW - Turrisphaera
KW - T. borealis
KW - polar regions
KW - electron microscopy