Identification by electron microscopy of nanoplanktonic coccolithophorids (Prymnesiophyceae) from West Green-land, including the description of Papposphaera sarion sp.nov.

Abstract

Eleven taxa of nanoplanktonic coccolithophorids are reported from West Greenland on the basis of material collected in the vicinity of Godhavn (Disko Island) in July and August 1977. Pappomonas flabellifera var. flabellifera is a new record for the northern hemisphere. Five of the species are new recordings for the Disko Bay area (Papposphaera sagittifera, Balaniger balticus, Calciarcus alaskensis, Wigwamma annulifera, and Turrisphaera arctica). A new species, Papposphaera sarion sp.nov., is described on the basis of transmission electron microscopy. It is distinguished from the two other Papposphaera species by a different type of appendage head. A summary of all the coccolithophorid data from 1977 show considerable variation within the area investigated with regard to the number of species present in each sample, as well as regarding the local distribution of certain species. The biogeography of the species recorded from West Greenland is considered. The inclusion of several records from nanoplankton investigations of Danish waters show that very few (if any) of these species are distributionally restricted to arctic or subarctic regions.