Coccolithophore combination coccospheres from the NE Mediterranean Sea: new evidence and taxonomic revisions

Numerous specimens of coccolithophore combination coccospheres in water samples collected from the North Aegean and Tyrrhenian (Mediterranean Sea) have been photographed using the scanning electron microscope. As a consequence a series of taxonomic revisions are proposed, in which the names of the heterococcolithophores and holococcolithophores involved in the same life-cycle are synonymized. This has resulted in synonymizing the genus Coronosphaera with Syracosphaera and establishing one new combination; Syracosphaera arethusae (Kamptner 1941) comb. nov.