Palinosphaera
"PALINOSPHAERA" Reinsch in Locker 1967, p.852. Calcareous dinoflagellate genus (see Elbrächter et al., 2008, p.1301, who noted that the cyst wall is pithonelloid and so a dinoflagellate affinity is questionable). Name not validly published: see below. Taxonomic senior synonym: Pithonella, by implication in Zügel (1994, p.17), who transferred the type to that genus. Locker (1967, p.852) appears to have been first to use this generic name, although he attributed it to Reinsch (1905). Reinsch had used the informal term "Palinosphärien", but did not base a generic name on the term. Locker provided a brief description and included only a single species, Palinosphaera sphaerica, albeit questionably. Thus, pending further information, Lagena (as Palinosphaera) sphaerica must be considered the type of the generic name Palinosphaera. Following Zügel's (1994) transfer of Lagena sphaerica to Pithonella, Palinosphaera must be considered a taxonomic junior synonym of Pithonella. On the basis that Locker (1967) was working under the I.C.Z.N., Elbrächter et al. (2008, p.1301) indicated that the generic name Palinosphaera is not validly published (using I.C.N. terminology) as it contravenes I.C.Z.N. Articles 13.3 and 15.1. Type: Palinosphaera sphaerica.
Species List: