Nannotax3 - ntax_cenozoic - Umbilicosphaera anulus

Citation: Umbilicosphaera anulus (Lecal 1967) Young & Geisen, in Young et al., 2003

Basionym: Cyclolithus anulus Lecal 1967

Synonyms:

Cyclococcolithus subtilis Müller (1976) = Geminlithella subtilis (Muller 1976) Varol 1989 [my identification - JRY 2015]
Cyclolithella ferrazae Sanchez-Suarez 1990 [according to Young et al. 2003]
Umbilicosphaera calvata Steinmetz 1991 [according to Kleijne 1993, p.190]
Umbilicosphaera scituloma Steinmetz 1991 [according to Kleijne 1993, p.190]

Taxonomic discussion: Included by Young et al. (2003) in Umbilicosphaera, on grounds of coccolith morphology and structure, which is similar to that of U. sibogae. [NB The genus Cyclolithus is based on a very poorly described large late Miocene coccolith, Cyclolithus inflexus Kamptner 1948 which is most likely a junior synonym of Coccolithus pelagicus, so the generic name Cyclolithus should not be used].

Spelling: anulus and annulus are alternative spellings of the Latin word meaning small ring - anulus is etymologically more logical but annulus is widely used. So, both spellings are correct and either one can be chosen by an author and this choice cannot subsequently be "corrected". Lecal 1967 used the spelling anulus so this is the correct spelling for the species.
Since anulus is a noun it does not change ending to match the generic name hence anulus is the correct name not anula.

Distinguishing features:
Parent taxon (Umbilicosphaera): Central area open
This taxon: Coccoliths elliptical, rims narrow

Geological Range:
Last occurrence (top): Extant. Data source: present in the plankton (Young et al. 2003)
First occurrence (base): within Quaternary Period (0.00-2.59Ma, base in Gelasian stage). Data source: [JRY rough estimate]

References:

Kamptner, E. (1948). Coccolithen aus dem Torton des Inneralpinen Wiener Beckens. Anzeiger der Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Wien. 157: 1-16. gs

Kleijne, A. (1993b). Morphology, Taxonomy and distribution of extant coccolithophorids (Calcareous nannoplankton). PhD Thesis, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. 1-321. gs

Lecal, J. (1967). Le nannoplancton des Côtes d'Israel. Hydrobiologia. 29: 305-387. gs

Sánchez-Suárez, I. G. (1990). Three new Coccolithophorids (Haptophyta) from the South-Eastern Caribbean Sea: Cyclolithella ferrazae sp. nov. Syracosphaera florida sp. nov. Syracosphaera tumularis sp. nov. Biologia Marina, Acta Científica Venezolana. 41: 152-158. gs

Steinmetz, J. C. (1991). Calcareous nannoplankton biocoenosis: sediment trap studies in the Equatorial Atlantic, Central Pacific, and Panama Basin. Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Report. 1: 1-85. gs

Varol, O. (1989a). Calcareous nannofossil study of the central and western Solomon Islands. Circum-Pacific Council for Energy and Mineral Resources Earth Sciences. 239-268. gs

Yang, T. -N., Wei, K. & Wu, J. -T. (2012). Marine coccolithophores around Taiwan. Biodiversity Research Center, Academica Sinica, Taipei. 1-96. gs

Young, J. R., Geisen, M., Cros, L., Kleijne, A., Probert, I. & Ostergaard, J. B. (2003). A guide to extant coccolithophore taxonomy. Journal of Nannoplankton Research. S1: 1-132. gs