Syracosphaera molischii var. pertusa Archontikis, Young, Cros, 2020

Syracosphaera molischii var. pertusa Archontikis, Young, Cros var. nov. HOL

Synonymy: Anthosphaera fragaria Kamptner emend. Kleijne (1991) , Winter and Siesser (1994), p. 148, Fig. 164; Aubry (1999), p. 247, Fig. 4 View Plate 3 .

Anthosphaera cf. fragaria Kamptner 1937 emend. Kleijne 1991 , Cros (2001), p. 80, Pl. 55, Fig. 4 View Plate 3 ; Cros and Fortuño (2002), p. 59, Fig. 86C.

Syracosphaera molischii Schiller 1925 HOL , Godrijan et al. (2018), p. 1703, Fig. 9; Skejić et al. (2018), p. 41, Fig. 8b.

Derivatio nominis: From Latin pertusus –a –um (adjective), perforated; referring to the somewhat large perforations of the BCs and the large ones at the base of the CFCs’ leaf-life process.

Description: Coccosphere, usually spherical in shape, consisting of c. 50–80 BCs and c. 5–10 CFCs. BCs elliptical; rim is connected to an elliptical central structure by c. 10–15 radial crystal struts of one large crystal width leaving large perforations at the perforate cycle that are consistently present. The central dome-like distal cover is formed of large angular crystallites, which are mostly arranged following the long axis. CFCs elliptical; rim is two to three crystals wide and is connected with a high and broad single-layered arched leaf-like process, made of delicate angular microcrystallites. At the base of the process, several (usually 5) large perforations, can be distinguished.

Remarks: S. molischii var. pertusa HOL is primarily separated from S. molischii var. molischii HOL by the larger size of the perforations on the BCs and by the presence of large perforations on the CFCs at the base of the process. In addition, the BCs of S. molischii var. pertusa are smaller and more narrowly elliptical.

Dimensions: Coccosphere diameter c. 5.5 μm; BCs c. 0.8 μm long x 0.6 μm wide. CFCs c. 0.7–0.8 μm long; distal process c. 2.0 μm high.

Holotype: Digital image 151705 ( Plate 1 View Plate 1 , Fig. 4 View Plate 3 ), deposited at ICM (CSIC), Barcelona, Spain.

Paratype: Specimens illustrated at Plate 1 View Plate 1 , Figs. 5–6.

Type locality: Station Hivern-99 25, 60 m water depth, collected from the NW Mediterranean Sea (40.82ºN, 2.75ºE) on 26 February 1999.

Number of specimens studied: 8

Distribution: Sub-tropical waters.