中国科学院南京地质古生物研究所机构知识库

The Ediacaran acritarch genera Megasphaera Chen and Liu, 1986, Membranosphaera Liu and Moczyd & lstrok;owska, 2019, Verrucosphaera Liu and Moczyd & lstrok;owska, 2019 have the same spelling as Megasphaera Rogosa, 1971, Membranosphaera Samoilovitch in Samoilovitch and Mtchedlishvili, 1961, Verrucosphaera Gorka, 1970, respectively. Among them, the interpretation of bacterial affinity of Megasphaera Chen and Liu, 1986 is largely abandoned due to its morphological complexity. Megasphaera Chen and Liu, 1986 is not a homonym of extant bacterial genus Megasphaera Rogosa, 1971, since they are governed by two mutually independent Codes of Nomenclature. Membranosphaera Liu and Moczyd & lstrok;owska, 2019, and Verrucosphaera Liu and Moczyd & lstrok;owska, 2019 are the later homonyms of acritarch genera Membranosphaera Samoilovitch in Samoilovitch and Mtchedlishvili, 1961 and Verrucosphaera Gorka, 1970, respectively. Therefore, they are illegitimate and unavailable for use under the International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants. In the study, the two genera are formally replaced by Membranospinosphaera Shang and Liu, and Spinomargosphaera Shang and Liu. All species under the previous illegitimate genera are transferred into the replacement genera. Meanwhile, the diagnoses of genus Membranospinosphaera and its type species M. formosa are emended in current study, relying on the full examinations of the holotype and paratype. A new species of Membranospinosphaera copia sp. nov. is erected on the basis of new materials.