- Callimitra carolotae Haeckel, 1887a, p. 1217, pl. 63, fig. 1

Revised description:Callimitra, which by all its features and measurements, is similar to C. elizabethae, but differs from it in that the branches of the basic spines intersect neither the lateral nor the lower plates. Distribution:Tropical areas of the Indian and Pacific Oceans, warm surface waters. Subsequent descriptions:YES

- Callimitra carolotae Haeckel, 1887a, p. 1217, pl. 63, fig. 1

Revised description and dimensions:Thickened border of lattice shell triangular in cross section, composed of meshwork of fine lattice bars, has gross outline of an inflated tetrahedron. Six symmetrical planar panels of lattice extend toward center from outer border and intersect three-by-three at angles of approximately 12O° (plate 1, figures 1-2) along four edges, which extend from the apices to the center of symmetry. Bulbous cephalis 1/4 size of overall lattice shell surrounds center of symmetry and interrupts lattice panels. Three basal lattice panels form an open-based pyramid analogous to the thorax of other Nassellaria. Frontal, apical and primary lateral bars bladed, perhaps cruciform in cross section, 2 microns in diameter, serrated by very short spicules within cephalis (plate 1, figures 2, 4). Apical bar not joined directly to cephalis. Pairs and triplet sets of connector bars join apical, frontal and primary lateral bars to cephalis near its inner wall. Chaotically furcate axial spine projects basally from juncture of primary lateral bars. Slender vertical bar, 1 micron in diameter. circular in cross section, randomly spinous, projects 10-15µm beyond cephalis as a free, simple, vertical spine. Frontal, apical. and two primary lateral bars protrude beyond cephalis and are coincident with the four edges of intersection of the lattice panels. Triplet sets of lattice bars, approximately 0.75µm in diameter, diverge from these four processes and extend along the lattice panels to the tetrahedral border. Similar lattice bars extend from outer border to cephalis and are coincident with the internal connector bars. Four to six such lattice bars are present on each lattice panel and are the major structural supports. Lattice panels appear as a loose trellis of delicate lattice bars approximately 0.25µm thick, which are oriented in three distinct sets of parallel to subparallel elements. Many lattice bars in each set can be traced over the complete width of the lattice panel and are uniformly spaced 4-5 microns apart.

One set of lattice bars is concentric with both the tetrahedral border and the cephalic surface. Most individual lattice bars of this set on a single lattice panel extend from one intersection edge to the other. The two other sets of parallel lattice bars, which may be highly disrupted by the major lattice bars, intersect the outer border and each other at an acute angle of approximately 60°. A uniform pattern is evident on portions of lattice panels between major lattice bars, where the three sets of delicate lattice bars assume a high degree of regularity. Here, intersections of these individual delicate lattice bars produce large hexagonal lattice openings separated by small triangular lattice openings which assume the configuration of overlapping Stars of David (plate 1, figure 5; plate 2, figure 6).
The cephalis is formed by a similar trellis, although the regularity of parallel orientation and angle of intersection is absent (plate 2, figure 5). On specimens observed by SEM, cephalis and adjacent portions of "thorax" are covered by an imperforate epithecal coating. The epitheca projects as a thin-walled, subcylindrical tubule surrounding the vertical spine (plate 1, figures 3,6; plate 2, figures 4-6).
       (Based on 20 specimens). Height of lattice shell 208-278µm, width of lattice shell 166-277µm.
Remarks:The reclassification of Callimitra species will also require emendations at the genus and family levels.
Locality: R/V Eastward cruise E13-75, Station 28638; northwest Atlantic, 31°11'N-71°31'W, plankton.
Distribution:A panoceanic warm-water cosmopolitan species with greatest abundance in central water masses. Its stratigraphic range is unknown.
Subsequent descriptions:YES

- Callimitra carolotae Haeckel, 1887a, p. 1217, pl. 63, fig. 1; Campbell, 1954, p.D122. fig. 61-9; Petrushevskaya, 1971b, p.85, pl. 41, I-III; Robinson and Goll, 1978 (1979), p.434-435, pl. 1, figs. 1-6; pl. 2, figs. 4-7; pl. 3. figs. 1-3 - Callimitra annae Haeckel, 1887a, p.1217, pl. 63, fig. 2 - Callimitra agnesae Haeckel, 1887a, p.1217, pl. 63, fig. 5 - Callimitra elisabethae Haeckel, 1887a, p.1218, pl. 63, fig. 5 - Callimitra emmae Haeckel, 1887a, p.1218. pl. 63, fig. 3; Benson, Ms, p.390-391, pl. 25, fig. 12 - Callimitra sp. Renz, 1976, p.161, pl. 7, fig. 1

Remarks:See Robinson and Goll (1979) for a description of this species. The discriminating characters used by Haeckel (1887a) to define his five Callimitra species are regarded here as only the results of intraspecific variability. In the fossil record, the oldest morph is C. emmae followed by C. carolotae and those with thickened margins on all lattice panels are the last to appear.
Stratigraphic range:Callimitra carolotae has a very fragile skeleton, and most fossil specimens are preserved only as fragments. At Site 77, C. carolotae occurs consistently in trace concentrations from core 10 (Stichocorys peregrina Zone: Upper Miocene) to core 7 (Spongaster pentas Zone: Lower Pliocene) and occurs sporadically in younger sediments. The species occurs in modern plankton (Benson, MS; Renz, 1976, and Robinson and Goll, 1979).
Subsequent descriptions:?

Literature cited:- Campbell, A. S. (1954). Radiolaria. Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology. R. C. Moore. Lawrence, Kansas, USA, Geological Society of America and University of Kansas Press. Part. D, Protista 3: 11-195.
- Goll, R. M. (1979). The Neogene evolution of Zygocircus, Neosemantis and Callimitra: their bearing on nassellarian classification. A revision of the Plagiacanthoidea. Micropaleontology 25(4): 365-396.
- Haeckel, E. (1887a). Report on the Radiolaria collected by H.M.S. Challenger during the years 1873-1876. Report on the Scientific Results of the Voyage of the H.M.S. Challenger, Zoology, 18, clxxxviii + 1803.
- Petrushevskaya, M. G. (1971b). Radiolyarii Nassellaria v planktone mirovogo okeana (Radiolarians of the Ocean). Akademiya nauk SSSR, Zoologicheskii Institut, Issledovaniya Fauny Morei 9(17): 294.
- Renz, G. W. (1976). The distribution and ecology of Radiolaria in the Central Pacific plankton and surface sediments. Bulletin of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California 22: 1-267.
- Robinson, W. J. and R. M. Goll (1979). Fine skeletal structures of the radiolarian Callimitra carolotae Haeckel. Micropaleontology 24(4): 432-439.