Peridinioid dinoflagellate cysts in a Holocene high-mountain lake deposit in Italy

This paper documents the discovery of peridinioid organic walled dinoflagellate cysts in Holocene sediments of the freshwater, low-alkalinity, high mountain Lake Nero di Cornisello (Adamello mountain range, Trentino, Italy). Among the three main cyst morphotypes found in the samples, the dominant one is acavate, with a smooth and light brown colored wall, with a clear conical shape, elongated with a pointy to rounded end in the antapical-ventral part, with the epicyst broader than the hypocyst and displays a typical peridinioid archeopyle. Comparison with data available in literature, besides pointing out the general scarcity of observations on dinocysts in lakes sediments, suggested a strong morphological similarity with the marine genus Brigantedinium. This finding pinpoints the need for more detailed studies on cysts in freshwater environments offering a new tool for paleoenvironmental interpretations. © 2006 Springer Science+Business Media, Inc.