Nannotax3 - ntax_Farinacci - Chrysochromulina elegans

Original descriptions of taxa - also emended descriptions for a few taxa. For coccolithophores, and many calcispheres, these are pages from the Farinacci & Howe Catalog of Calcareous Nannofossils. In other cases (e.g. non-calcifying haptophytes) the data is directly compiled on this site. The "Catalogue of Calcareous Nannofossils" was originally compiled by Prof A. Farinacci 1969-1989, since 2000 it has been updated and extended by Richard Howe - see The Farinacci and Howe Catalog - an Introduction.
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Citation: Chrysochromulina elegans Estep et al. 1984

Type specimens: micrograph numbers 10761 - 10762, figs 2, 3

Standardised type level: 160_HOLOCENE

Farinacci catalog page (& compiler): n/a

Chloroplast containing cells, 3-4 µm in diameter when dried, possibly up to twice as large when living, with two equal flagella 14-17um in length. Haptonema longer than the flagella, in 12-14 coils in fixed specimens. Round to oval plate scales covering the cell surface, 0.6-0.8 µm in diameter, the proximal surface with a radial pattern of 60-70 lines, divided into four quadrants. The distal surface with a random pattern, a narrow, patternless, raised marginal rim and a slightly curved 0.1 µm long central spine with four narrows struts, adnate to the scale surface and ending at the marginal rim. One to several plate sclaes also bearing long spines, 4-7 µm in length, 0.2 µm in diameter and tapering gradually to a point at the tip. The larger spines with four adnate, ridge like struts at the forming a cruciform pattern in cross-section just above the plate surface.

Distribution : Sargasso Sea, South Forida coast

Remarks: The scales and spines of this species adhere tightly to the cell surface and are therefore found evenly arranged around the cell in dried specimens (Fig. 2). The radial pattern on the proximal surface of the plate scales and its division into quadrants is reminiscent of a number of Chrysochromulina species, including C. parkeae, C. tenuispina, C. ephippium and C. herdlensis. Of the several species of Chrysochromulina with long spines, including C. hirta, C. tenuispina, C.pringsheimii and C. parkeae, the present species is most similar to C. mantoniae, particularly with regard to spine structure. The ridge like struts of the long spines, the curvature at their base (visible in Fig. 2) and their tapering to a point are common to both species. However, the present species differs from C. mantoniae in several respects. First, the distal face of the plate scales of C. elegans bears a random pattern and a short spine with four adnate struts (Fig. 3), while C. mantoniae possesses plate scales that are consistently oval in shape and without central spines or struts. Second, the smaller plate scales (LEADBEATER 1972a) of C. mantoniae are absent from the present species. Finally, the large, tapered spines in C. elegans, though similar to C. mantoniae, are distributed evenly over the cell surface when present in greater numbers (Figs. 4, 5), rather than being concentrated at the poles.

Micrographs of an incomplete specimen of this species have been previously published by MANTON and OATES (1983, Fig 17 a-c). Present at sta. 4/35 m, 5/10m, 6/lm, 9/65m and 10/65m.

References:

Estep, K. W., Davis, P. G., Hargraves, P. E. & Sieburth, J. M. (1984). Chloroplast containing microflagellates in natural populations of North Atlantic nanoplankton, their identification and distribution, including a description of five new species of Chrysochromulina (Prymnesiophyceae). Protistologica. 20: 613-634. gs

Leadbeater, B. S. C. (1972a). Fine structural observations on six new species of Chrysochromulina (Haptophyceae) from Norway with preliminary observations on scale production in C. microcylindra sp. nov. Sarsia. 49: 65-80. gs

Manton, I. & Oates, K. (1983). Nanoplankton from the Galapagos Islands: Chrysochromulina vexillifera sp. nov. (Haptophyceae = Prymnesiophyceae), a species with semivestigial body spines. Botanica Marina. 16: 517-525. gs

CATALOG - Chrysochromulina elegans

References:

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