Lithomelissa celsagula Renaudie and Lazarus, 2015

Trubovitz, Sarah, Renaudie, Johan, Lazarus, David & Noble, Paula, 2022, Late Neogene Lophophaenidae (Nassellaria, Radiolaria) from the eastern equatorial Pacific, Zootaxa 5160 (1), pp. 1-158 : 43

Lithomelissa celsagula Renaudie and Lazarus, 2015

Plate 15, Figs. 1A – 2B .

? Lophophenoma sp G, Petrushevskaya, 1971, pl. 56, fig. 17 (non fig. 16).

Lithomelissa celsagula n. sp., Renaudie and Lazarus, 2015, pl. 7, figs. 10–11, 16; pl. 8, fig. 12.

Lithomelissa celsagula Renaudie and Lazarus, Trubovitz et al., 2020 , supplementary data 7.

Remarks. The specimens we observed in the EEP were confirmed to be conspecific with the Southern Ocean forms, by the authors of the species. There are no notable differences between the polar and tropical forms.

Range. Present from the Late Oligocene–Late Miocene in the SO. Observed in the Late Miocene in the EEP, lower limit not determined ( Table 1 ).

Figures

FIGURE 1. Diagram illustrating the general skeletal morphology of Lophophaenidae, and terminology used in this manuscript. Dashed lines indicate spines that are not visible from the angle shown, as they extend into the skeleton. An example specimen of Lophophaena casperi n. sp. is included for comparison to the diagrams.

FIGURE 2. Relative abundance of specimens and taxa belonging to Plagiacanthoidea and Lophophaenidae per sample, from IODP Site U1337 in the EEP over the last ~10 Ma. The relative percentages of total taxa are represented by the blue lines and the red lines represent the percentages of total specimens (triangles = Plagiacanthoidea; circles = Lophophaenidae). The Plagiacanthoidea was among the most abundant and speciose of radiolarian groups encountered in Trubovitz et al. (2020), with at least 10% of the specimens and 20% of the taxonomic richness in every sample. Within the Plagiacanthoidea, lophophaenids consistently made up the majority of specimens (~67%) and taxa (~61%). Data are from Trubovitz et al. (2020).