| Summary: | Author Posting. © The Author(s), 2021. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of John Wiley & Sons for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Phycology, doi:10.1111/jpy.13135. Gymnodinium gracile, described from the coasts of Denmark in 1881, is one of the first described unarmored dinoflagellates. Individuals which morphologically fit with the original description were isolated from the English Channel (North‐East Atlantic). The SSU rRNA gene sequences were identical to the sequences identified as Balechina pachydermata and Gymnodinium amphora from the Mediterranean Sea and Brazil. We propose the transfer of Gymnodinium gracile into the genus Balechina as B. gracilis comb. nov. These sequences constitute an independent lineage, clustering with numerous environmental sequences from polar to tropical waters. The widespread distribution, the high plasticity in size, shape and coloration and the difficulties in discerning the fine longitudinal striae have contributed to the description of numerous synonyms: Amphidinium vasculum, Balechina pachydermata (=Gymnodinium pachydermatum), Gymnodinium achromaticum, G. abbreviatum, G. amphora, G. dogielii, G. lohmannii (=G. roseum sensu Lohmann 1908), G. situla and Gyrodinium cuneatum (=G. gracile sensu Pouchet 1885). F.G. was supported by the convention #2101893310 between CNRS INSU and the French Ministry of Ecology (MTES) for the implementation of the Monitoring Program of the European Marine Strategy Framework directive (MSFD) for pelagic habitats and the descriptor ‘biodiversity’. Samples were collected during the ECOPEL Manche 2018 spring and summer cruises (CNRS-LOG) onboard R/V "Antea" (IRD, Institut de Recherche pour le Développement) in the frame of the cited convention and the CPER ‘Hauts de France’ project MARCO supported by the French state, the ‘Hauts de France’ French Region and the European Regional Development Founds (ERDF).
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