**Five new species of the coccolithophorid genusAlisphaera(Haptophyta), with notes on their distribution, coccolith structure and taxonomy**

Kleijne, A.
Jordan, R. W.
Heimdal, B. R.
Samtleben, C.
Chamberlain, A. H.L.
Cros, L.

¹Geomarine Centre, Faculty of Earth Sciences, Vrije Universiteit, De Boelelaan 1085, 1081 HV Amsterdam, The Netherlands
²Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Science, Yamagata University, Yamagata, 990 8560 Japan
³Department of Fisheries and Marine Biology, University of Bergen, Bergen High Technology Center, N-5020 Bergen, Norway
⁴Institut für Geowissenschaften, Universität Kiel, Olshausenstrasse 40-60, 24118 Kiel, Germany
⁵Microbial Physiology Group, School of Biological Sciences, University of Surrey, Guildford, Surrey, GU2 5XH, UK
⁶Institut de Ciències del Mar (CSIC), Passeig Joan de Borbó s/n, 08039, Barcelona, Spain
^* Corresponding author ([email protected]).
^† Present address: Duinoord 11, 2224 CA Katwijk aan Zee, The Netherlands.
^‡ Present address: Section for Marine Botany, Department of Biology, University of Oslo, P.O. Box 1069 Blindern, N-0316 Oslo, Norway.
Accepted 5 August 2001

A. Kleijne, R.W. Jordan, B.R. Heimdal, C. Samtleben, A.H.L. Chamberlain and L. Cros. 2001. Five new species of the coccolithophorid genus Alisphaera (Haptophyta), with notes on their distribution, coccolith structure and taxonomy. Phycologia40: 583-601.

Phycologia 40(6):p 583-601, November 2001.

Five new species of the coccolithophorid genus Alisphaera (Haptophyta/Prymnesiophyta) are described from tropical to arctic waters: Alisphaera extenta Kleijne et al. sp. nov., Alisphaera pinnigera Kleijne et al. sp. nov., Alisphaera quadrilatera Kleijne et al. sp. nov., Alisphaera gaudii Kleijne et al. sp. nov., and Alisphaera uncinata Kleijne et al. sp. nov. (in each case, the taxon authors are the same and in the same order as for the paper itself). Three of these species are dimorphic, and so the description of the previously monomorphic genus Alisphaera is emended; so also is the description of Alisphaera unicornis. All the species currently in Alisphaera (comprising Alisphaera capulata, Alisphaera spatula, Alisphaera ordinata, and A. unicornis, in addition to the five new species) are illustrated, their coccolith distal flange and central area structures are compared, and their geographical distribution is discussed. The proximal flange and the central area of Alisphaera are equivalent to the outer and inner tube cycles of Canistrolithus. The absence of central area cycles with a different crystal nucleation in most Alisphaera spp. and in Canistrolithus implies that these genera should be separated from the family Syracosphaeraceae.