PAPPOSPHAERACEAE, Jordan & Young, 1990

Archontikis, Odysseas A., Millán, Josué G., Winter, Amos & Young, Jeremy R., 2023, Taxonomic re-evaluation of Ericiolus and Mercedesia (Prymnesiophyceae) and description of three new species, Phycologia 62 (2), pp. 179-193 : 191

PAPPOSPHAERACEAE

The family Papposphaeraceae includes a wide range of small coccolithophores, which, like Ericiolus , occur sporadically in both polar waters and in the LPZ of the tropics and subtropics. Indeed, our key samples with common Ericiolus specimens also contained various members of the Papposphaeraceae . However, unlike Ericiolus , this group is characterized by predominantly dimorphic coccospheres with unambiguous heterococcoliths that are both made by R- and V-units, not monomorphic nannoliths. The heterococcoliths predominantly show four-fold symmetry and display narrow murolith rims (see Andruleit & Young 2010 for extended discussion), whereas Ericiolus is characterized by a three-fold symmetry pattern and a rim is absent; instead, a narrow ray base is always seen. Therefore, affinity with the Papposphaeraceae seems unlikely.