Abstract
Abstract Pseudo-cryptic speciation occurs commonly in living oceanic plankton. In the coccolithophores, recent genetic studies have revealed that Braarudosphaera bigelowii has a number of unique genotypes that correlate well with pentalith size, indicating that this coccolithophore “species” actually contains multiple pseudo-cryptic taxa. In order to look for evidence of pseudo-cryptic speciation in the past, we measured the radii of 2800 B. bigelowii pentaliths from the Braarudosphaera-rich limestones that contain the GSSP for the Lower/Middle Paleocene (Danian/Selandian) boundary at Zumaia, Spain. Analysis of the radius measurements using the Expectation-Maximization algorithm yielded two size groups, herein termed form X (
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