Palynological studies of cored lacustrine sediments from the late Quaternary of Lake Kastoria, northern Greece, revealed a Late Glacial interval with abundant dinoflagellate cysts. Cyst assemblages include two identifiable species, Spiniferites cruciformis and Gonyaulax apiculata. The presence of the fresh water species G. apiculata is consistent with the lacustrine setting of these deposits, but that of S. cruciformis is anomalous. Previously, this species has only been recorded in abundance from presumed brackish marine sediments from the Black Sea and Marmara Sea sediments where geochemical data clearly record brackish salinities. Therefore, it has been regarded as a low salinity cyst type with a wide range of morphological variation that some workers have suggested to reflect salinity fluctuations. Specimens from Greece display only part of the range of morphological variability previously described from these (brackish) marine settings. Encountered morphological variation includes ellipsoidal/pentameral and cruciform endocyst shapes with rare intermediate shapes, and highly variable septa development. Specimens characterized by extremely reduced ornamentation known from (brackish) marine environments have not been recorded. Our records of S. cruciformis indicate that: (1) it could thrive in fresh water conditions; and (2) that apparently most of the strong morphological variations of the cysts are an intrinsic phenomenon for this taxon, and may only partly be linked to salinity variations as suggested earlier. We suggest that S. cruciformis essentially is a fresh water taxon, and that its records in (brackish) marine environments, with the exception of specimens with strongly reduced ornamentation, may be due to transportation, to short-lived fresh water surface conditions in such environments, or to tolerance of the species to brackish conditions.

中文翻译：

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Spiniferites cruciformis：淡水甲藻囊肿？

对希腊北部卡斯托里亚湖晚第四纪岩心湖相沉积物的孢粉学研究揭示了晚冰期间隔，有丰富的甲藻囊肿。囊肿组合包括两个可识别的物种，Spiniferites cruciformis 和 Gonyaulax apiculata。淡水物种 G. apiculata 的存在与这些沉积物的湖泊环境一致，但 S. cruciformis 的存在异常。以前，该物种仅在来自黑海和马尔马拉海沉积物的假定微咸海洋沉积物中被大量记录，其中地球化学数据清楚地记录了微咸水盐度。因此，它被认为是一种低盐度的囊肿类型，具有广泛的形态变异，一些工作人员建议反映盐度波动。来自希腊的标本仅显示先前从这些（微咸的）海洋环境中描述的形态变异范围的一部分。遇到的形态变异包括椭圆形/五角形和十字形内囊形状，中间形状很少见，隔膜发育高度可变。从（微咸）海洋环境中已知的以极其减少的装饰为特征的标本尚未被记录。我们对 S. cruciformis 的记录表明：(1) 它可以在淡水条件下茁壮成长；(2) 显然，大多数包囊的强烈形态变异是该分类群的固有现象，并且可能仅部分地与早先建议的盐度变化有关。我们认为 S. cruciformis 本质上是一种淡水分类群，它在（微咸）海洋环境中的记录，