Papposphaera iugifera nov. sp. from West Greenland, Svalbard, and the Baltic Sea

Abstract

We are currently revisiting coccolithophore genera and species described from high latitudes in both hemispheres, and also in the process describing new taxa when appropriate, with the aim of providing the best possible framework for polar species segregation based on external morphological features only. The present paper thus introduces Papposphaera iugifera nov. sp. from West Greenland (Disko – type locality), Svalbard (Isfjorden) and the Baltic Sea (Bothnian Sea). P. iugifera is clearly related to P. sagittifera, P. sarion and P. arctica and forms with these a continuum of species that are, with the exception of P. sarion, on the one hand much similar with respect to calicate spine details, while on the other hand clearly differentiated with respect to the complexity of central area calcification. While this is extensive in P. sagittifera it is reduced to just a single transverse bar or even completely absent in P. iugifera.