Nannotax3 - ntax_cenozoic - Gephyrocapsa small

Variants: Small Gephyrocapsa species which have been decribed in the literature include
Extant species (detailed on other pages)

Gephyrocapsa ericsonii McIntyre & Bé 1967
Gephyrocapsa ornata Heimdal, 1973
Gephyrocapsa crassipons Okada & McIntyre 1977

Fossil species (combined here)

Gephyrocapsa aperta Kamptner, 1963 - narrow rim, wide central area, intermediate/high bar angle
Gephyrocapsa duoalatus (Martini, 1981) Martini, 1993 - extremely elevated bridge
Gephyrocapsa mediterranea Pirini Radrizzani & Valleri, 1977 - thick elevated bridge
Gephyrocapsa kennettii Chuang et al. 2021 - slits between some elements in the distal shield
Gephyrocapsa pelta Samtleben, 1980 - low angle bar
Gephyrocapsa protohuxleyi McIntyre, 1970 - silts between all elements of the distal shield
Gephyrocapsa rota Samtleben, 1980
Gephyrocapsa sinuosa Hay & Beaudry, 1973 - low angle bar, very small
Gephyrocapsa theyeri Pujos 1987 - massive bar

Taxonomic discussion: Small Gephyrocapsa coccoliths show diverse morphologies and probably include many species. It is not practical to identify them by light microscopy so they are typically simply refered to the informal category ""small Gephyrocapsa"". Alternatively the names G. aperta, or in the Late Quaternary, G. ericsonii, are often used in the same sense.

Distinguishing features: Gephyrocapsa <3µm long - not usually identifiable to species level by light microscopy

Geological Range:
Notes: Small Gephyrocapsa is abundant in a short interval in the mid Pliocene but becomes much rarer in the Late Pliocene (NN16-18), they are common throughout the Pleistocene. Small Gephyrocapsa specimens are also present in the plankton but the identification is usually only used for fossil specimens.
The first occurrence of small Gephyrocapsa is hard to place as the earliest forms are often hard to definitively identify by light microscope. The earliest well-supported record is that of Triantaphyllou (2000) from the Messinian of Greece.
Last occurrence (top): within MIS-2 Isotope stage (0.02-0.05Ma, top in Tarantian stage). Data source:
First occurrence (base): within Messinian Stage (5.33-7.25Ma, base in Messinian stage). Data source: Triantaphyllou (2000)

References:

Chuang, C. -K., Wei, K. -Y., Mii, H. -S., Suk, H. -Y. & Lo, L. (2021). Gephyrocapsa kennettii sp. nov., a new calcareous nannofossil species from the Middle Pleistocene, Solomon Sea, western equatorial Pacific. Micropaleontology. 67(1): 1-10. gs

Gartner, S. (1977). Calcareous nannofossil biostratigraphy and revised zonation of the Pleistocene. Marine Micropaleontology. 2: 1-25. gs

Hay, W. W. & Beaudry, F. M. (1973). Calcareous nannofossils - Leg 15. Initial Reports of the Deep Sea Drilling Project. 15: 625-684. gs V O

Heimdal, B. R. (1973). Two new taxa of Recent coccolithophorids. “Meteor” Forschungsergebnisse, Reihe D, Biologie. 70-75. gs

Kamptner, E. (1963). Coccolithineen-Skelettreste aus Tiefseeablagerungen des Pazifischen Ozeans. Annalen des Naturhistorischen Museums in Wien. 66: 139-204. gs V O

Martini, E. (1981b). Oligocene to Recent calcareous nannoplankton from the Philippine Sea, Deep Sea Drilling Project Leg 59. Initial Reports of the Deep Sea Drilling Project. 59: 547-565. gs V O

Martini, E. (1993). Emiliania coronata, a new calcareous nannoplankton species from the North Atlantic Pleistocene. Zitteliana. 20: 87-92. gs

Matsuoka, H. & Okada, H. (1989). Quantitative analysis of Quaternary nannoplankton in the subtropical Northwestern Pacific Ocean. Marine Micropaleontology. 14: 97-118. gs

Matsuoka, H. & Okada, H. (1990). Time-progressive morphometric changes of the genus Gephyrocapsa in the Quaternary sequence of the tropical Indian Ocean, Site 709. Proceedings of the Ocean Drilling Program, Scientific Results. 115: 255-270. gs V O

McIntyre, A. & Bé, A. W. H. (1967b). Modern Coccolithophoridae of the Atlantic Ocean - I. Placoliths and Cyrtholiths. Deep-Sea Research and Oceanographic Abstracts. 14: 561-597. gs

McIntyre, A. (1970). Gephyrocapsa protohuxleyi sp. n. a possible phyletic link and index fossil for the Pleistocene. Deep-Sea Research. 17: 187-190. gs

Pirini Radrizzani, C. & Valleri, G. (1977). New data on calcareous nannofossils from the Pliocene of the Tyrrhenian Basin Site 132, DSDP Leg 13. Rivista Italiana di Paleontologia. 83(4): 897-924. gs

Pujos, A. (1987a). Late Eocene to Pleistocene medium-sized and small-sized "Reticulofenestrids". Abhandlungen der Geologischen Bundesanstalt. 39: 239-277. gs V O

Rio, D. (1982). The fossil distribution of coccolithophore genus Gephyrocapsa Kamptner and related Plio-Pleistocene chronostratigraphic problems. Initial Reports of the Deep Sea Drilling Project. 68: 325-343. gs V O

Samtleben, C. (1980). Die Evolution der Coccolithophoriden-Gattung Gephyrocapsa nach Befunden im Atlantik. Paläontologische Zeitschrift. 54: 91-127. gs

Triantaphyllou, M. (2000). Short note on the occurrence of small Gephyrocapsa species and birefringent ceratoliths in Messinian diatomites (Gavdos Island, Southern Greece). Journal of Nannoplankton Research. 22(1): 37-40. gs V O

Young, J. R. (1998). Neogene. In, Bown, P. R. (ed.) Calcareous Nannofossil Biostratigraphy. British Micropalaeontological Society Publication Series. 225-265. gs V O

Comments (1)

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Mike Styzen (Noble Energy, US)

GOM Pleistocene marker: On the charts I published for the Gulf of Mexico (Styzen 1996, Styzen and Jolley 2008) I have a marker (NP 1.58 in the Shell US nomanclature) based on the first major acme (downhole) of small Gephyrocapsa which also contains common Pseudoemiliania spp. This event features Small Gephyrocapsa in probably it's greatest abundance with literally thousands per field of view. From the looks of things The age dates assigned to this part of the section on the 2008 chart (available in Time Scale Creator Pro) are a little off. The event falls between the extinctions of Helicosphaera sellii (see my remarks on that too) and that of \large"Gephyrocapsa (which is an event I've never been able to get to work very well). That would put it between 1.34 and 1.46 ma on the Gradstein, Ogg and Smith timescale."""

19th May 2011 12:00am

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Tags	LITHS: placolith, elliptical, CA: ca_conjunct, grill, bar, CSPH: equant, monomorphic, CROSS-POLARS: rim-unicyclic, R-prominent,
Metrics	Lith size: 1.5->3µm;

Gephyrocapsa small

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