A review of rare and less well known extant marine organic-walled dinoflagellate cyst taxa of the orders Gonyaulacales and Suessiales from the Northern Hemisphere

Abstract

Dinoflagellate resting cysts with rare exception produce the only discrete link between the biology of extant dinoflagellate species and their fossil record. The geological preservability of such cysts allows them to be used for quantitative paleoecological reconstructions, especially in the Quaternary, and for biostratigraphy and the calibration of molecular clocks with the geological record. This contribution reviews and updates the taxonomy of 27 uncommon dinoflagellate cyst species and morphotypes belonging to the orders Gonyaulacales and Suessiales with occurrences in upper Quaternary marine sediments of the Northern Hemisphere. Comparative descriptions and illustrations are provided along with the biological affinity of each taxon where known and lowest stratigraphic occurrence. Highlights ► 25 rare or endemic extant dinoflagellate cyst species and two morphotypes are briefly described and illustrated. ► 23 belong to the Gonyaulacales and 4 to the Suessiales. ► Their stratigraphic ranges are provided.

Paleoceanography and dinoflagellate cyst stratigraphy across the Lower–Middle Pleistocene Subseries (Calabrian–Chibanian Stage) boundary at the Chiba composite section, Japan

“…The present study largely follows the taxonomy of Van Nieuwenhove et al (2020), Mertens et al (2020), and Limoges et al (2020) for the dinoflagellate cysts, except that the cosmopolitan cyst morphotype (Fig. 8j-l, Fig.…”

“…Taxa are illustrated in Figs. 4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14. The relative abundances of all counted taxa are plotted in Fig.…”

“…Specimens were photographed under bright field illumination by MJH using a Leica DMR microscope equipped with a Leica DFC550 digital camera, and are illustrated in Figs. 4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,and 14.…”

Laboratory Culture-Based Characterization of the Resting Stage Cells of the Brown-Tide-Causing Pelagophyte, Aureococcus anophagefferens

“…RSCs of A. anophagefferens have a relatively smooth cell surface, which is different from the resting cysts or spores of many species that undergo more substantial changes in cell surface and/or surface structures including thickened walls or modified enclosing inorganic or organic thecae, as seen in dinoflagellates and some diatoms [27,[47][48][49][50][51]. Similar to vegetative cells, RSCs of A. anophagefferens are spherical in shape, but are so different from vegetative cells in cell size: RSCs are significantly larger (doubled in cell diameter).…”

Episodic Atlantic Water Inflow Into the Independence Fjord System (Eastern North Greenland) During the Holocene and Last Glacial Period

“…Since the cyst-theca relationship of the arctic cysts remains unknown, the comparative identification "cf. Biecheleria sp.," is also used here, following the recommendation by Limoges et al (2020). Operculodinium centrocarpum as used here refers to the cyst morphotype sensu Wall and Dale (1966).…”