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Based on a further re-examination of loricate choanoflagellate species with detailed morphological (SEM/TEM) and molecular data of the SSU and LSU rRNA, the present study aims to give new insights for Stephanoeca cupula. In contrast to the original allocation within the family of tectiform reproducing species, morphological and molecular data of S. cupula sensu Leadbeater, 1972 points towards an affiliation within the nudiform reproducing family. Based on these new data, we here erect the nudiform genus Kalathoeca with its type species K. cupula gen. et comb. nov. Our data challenges morphological species assignments, as K. cupula shares its morphological lorica characteristics with tectiform reproducing species of Stephanoeca sensu stricto. Kalathoeca cupula is an interesting candidate for further investigating and understanding the evolutionary relationship of tectiform and nudiform reproducing species. Stephanoeca cupula sensu Thomsen, 1988 has been morphologically re-examined based on the renewed understanding of the morphological variability associated with S. cupula sensu Leadbeater, 1972 (= K. cupula), allowing us now to distribute the different morphological forms investigated within K. cupula and Pseudostephanoeca quasicupula.

In the course of the last decades, several acanthoecid choanoflagellates have been assigned to the tectiform reproducing genus Stephanoeca based on lorica morphological comparability. The recent description of a Stephanoeca-like nudiform genus, Enibas Schiwitza, Arndt and Nitsche, 2019, has emphasized the possibility that some species assigned to Stephanoeca (based solely on lorica morphological features) might in the end have to be relegated to other genera. Stephanoeca urnula Thomsen, 1973, shows a striking morphological resemblance to E. thessalia Schiwitza and Nitsche, 2020. Also, the inability to document from microscopy any bundles of supernumerary costal strips in the collar region of this species, makes it an obvious Stephanoeca outcast candidate. We have revisited the S. urnula type locality and established this species in crude culture. A detailed SEM morphological analysis of cultured specimens, and a molecular analysis of the SSU and LSU rRNA, has unveiled its undisputed affiliation to the nudiform genus Enibas. Here, we redescribe S. urnula Thomsen, 1973 as E. urnula (Thomsen, 1973) comb. nov. Based on microscopical examinations of species of Stephanoeca and Enibas we have been able to pinpoint anterior lorica chamber construction details, that in the future renders possible a morphological distinction between the two genera.

The present study has revealed morphological differences of species assigned to the acanthoecid choanoflagellate genus Stephanoeca based on the relative position of transverse and longitudinal costae in the anterior lorica chamber. A detailed re-examination of published material of S. paucicostata Tong et al., 1998 combined with new data has shown that the species characteristic, a double transverse costa, is clearly located outside of the longitudinal costae excluding this taxon from an affiliation to Stephanoeca sensu stricto, confirmed also by molecular data of a clonal culture from Kos Islands, Greece. Two specimens of S. paucicostata with only a single, interiorly positioned transverse costa, namely from Marchant et al., 1987, Nitsche et al., 2011 were erroneously assigned to this species. These facts has here led to the establishment of a new genus, Pseudostephanoeca with its type species P. paucicostata and the description of S. ellisfiordensis for the two specimens mentioned above corroborated by new material from Antarctica. In addition, two specimens previously assigned to S. cupula have been shown to share the core characteristic of Pseudostephanoeca with exteriorly positioned transverse elements what has led to the description of the new species P. quasicupula including also new material from Iceland.

Loricate choanoflagellate genera that incorporate flattened costal strips in the lorica (i.e. Calotheca, Stephanacantha, Thomsenella (=Platypleura) and Syndetophyllum) are prevalent in warm water habitats. The genus Thomsenella (=Platypleura) thus comprises four species and three of these have an Andaman Sea type locality. Our ongoing examination of loricate choanoflagellate material from all major warm water oceans has provided us with the opportunity of revisiting species of Thomsenella in order to test and fortunately verify, in a morpho-specific context, the robustness of the species matrix initially defined.

The main outcome of this and subsequent papers is to provide a baseline survey of heterotrophic protist diversity from warm water marine ecosystems, exemplified by loricate choanoflagellates (Acanthoecida). Loricate choanoflagellates are heterotrophic, nano-sized protists that are ubiquitous in marine and brackish water habitats. They dwell in a lorica formed by silicified costal strips organized in species specific patterns. The single anteriorly directed flagellum is surrounded by a collar formed by microvilli which together constitute the feeding apparatus. Keystone benefits from this warm water survey, which covers all three major oceans, is an improved understanding of global biogeographical patterns, and a further consolidation of the morphospecies matrix, that constitutes a highly essential reference framework for the current efforts to provide barcodes for as many species of loricate choanoflagellates as possible, based on e.g. single cell pipetting techniques. We describe here Conioeca gen. et sp. nov., which is so far distributionally confined to warm water habitats, and elaborate on the morphological variability encountered within the N. minuta complex. This leads to both the circumscription of a new N. minuta form A as well as the description of N. mexicana sp. nov.

Translating the vast amounts of molecular barcodes from global surveys of microbial eukaryotes into ecological insight depends critically on a well-curated reference database with adequate taxonomic coverage. In this respect, the choanoflagellates resemble other eukaryotic lineages: reasonable coverage at higher taxonomic levels, but missing diversity at the species level. The acanthoecid (loricate) choanoflagellates are well-characterized morphologically, with over 115 species described, but less than 10% with any sequence data. Because lorica shape is species-specific, the acanthoecids represent an opportunity to link morphological with molecular data within a lineage of eukaryotes. To match morphospecies to sequences, we sampled the Kattegat and the Isefjord in Denmark in September 2014 and February 2015. We identified 45 morphospecies and sequenced ribosomal DNA of nine previously unsequenced species, roughly doubling the number of acanthoecid species with sequence data, including the first data representing five genera: Bicosta, Calliacantha, Cosmoeca, Crinolina and Pleurasiga. Our phylogenetic analysis is mainly congruent with morphology-based systematics. Five of the newly sequenced species match a previously unidentified barcode from Tara Oceans, providing access to the global distribution of species isolated from Danish waters. One species, Calliacantha natans, is the second most globally abundant choanoflagellate present in Tara Oceans. Our project translating new ribosomal DNA sequences to distributions of described species on a global scale supports the approach linking morphology to molecular barcodes for microbial eukaryote ecology. (C) 2016 Published by Elsevier GmbH.

The examination and statistical analysis of loricate choanoflagellate material collected from Greenland waters during the period 1988-1998 represents a de facto baseline study of heterotrophic nanoflagellates from the Atlantic Arctic Region. The geographic sites sampled are Disko Bay (West Greenland) and the high-arctic North-East Water (NEW) and North Water (NOW) polynya. The analyses encompass close to 50 taxa. Some of these are described as new species, i.e. Acanthocorbis glacialis, A. reticulata and Diaphanoeca dilatanda. Two distinct clusters of species that are separated in time and space occur at all three sampling sites. A PCA analysis of NEW and NOW data points to that one community is linked to e.g. an early season high nutrient and low phytoplankton biomass scenario, whereas the other is predominant when nutrient levels are exhausted and the phytoplankton biomass high or declining. The material additionally allows for a comprehensive examination of e.g. the Cosmoeca ventricosa morphological variability encountered, as well as puts on record bimodal size variability within a number of species.

It has been generally accepted based on the finding of combination coccospheres in field samples that Turrisphaera arctica and Papposphaera sarion are alternate life-cycle phases of a single species. However, while recently revisiting P. sarion it became evident that the Turrisphaera phase of this species is not identical with T. arctica but rather is an undescribed species of Turrisphaera. The most conspicuous diagnostic feature of T. arctica, an asymmetrical and tilted hypertrophy of the distal tube opening in circum-flagellar coccoliths, was hinted at in the first description of the taxon. However, focus was here on the overall similarity between T. borealis and T. arctica to the extent that the rather conspicuous difference between the two taxa was not clearly recognized by the authors of the taxon, nor by any researcher who has worked on these species since then.We present herematerial of T. arctica from various Arctic locations (WestGreenland,NEGreenland, Svalbard) that completelymatches the type material fromResoluteBay,Cornwallis Island. This material additionally comprised (NE Greenland) large numbers of combination coccospheres that clearly indicate that T. arctica shares a life history with an as yet undescribed species of Papposphaera. This allows us to emend the description of T. arctica including also its heterococcolithophore phase, and in this contextmaking use of the combination P. arctica whichwas established decades ago, yet here with the specific comment that P. sarion is no longer a valid synonym of P. arctica

Scale-bearing siliceous nannoplankton are occasionally encountered in surface seawater samples, but are rarely identified or illustrated. In this study, the morphological diversity of the haptophyte Hyalolithus neolepis and the enigmatic Petasaria heterolepis are investigated in scanning and transmission electron microscopes using materials from around theworld. Results show that H. neolepis scales exhibit variation in the width of the marginal hyaline area, but intermediate specimens make separation of the two morphologies difficult. Petasaria heterolepis scales also show differences, in the presence of tubercle rows in the hyaline area and degree of hyaline areal coverage, but separation into discrete varieties is difficult at present. However, specimens with scales bearing a protuberance are considered to be distinct enough to warrant the erection of a new species, Petasaria protuberans Jordan,Malinverno, Šupraha, Thomsen et Young sp. nov.

In an attempt to establish a taxonomy for the polar contingent of lightly calcified coccolithophores, we are currently dealing with species of Papposphaera. Here we describe a new species, Papposphaera heldalii sp. nov., based on material from Svalbard. The species is unique in terms of calyx design, which is an elegant modification of the standard P. sagittifera theme, and also in terms of the absence of central area calcification in body coccoliths. The species thus occupies a further step in a sequence of five Arctic forms ranging from P. sagittifera via P. sarion, P. arctica and P. iugifera to P. heldalii showing a gradual reduction of central area calcification in body coccoliths. P. heldalii is unique also in the sense that the species has not been found during any of the major Arctic TEM nanoplankton surveys conducted during the last decades.