Kenneth Neil Mertens,^1,* Pjotr Meyvisch,^2,** Pieter Gurdebeke,^2,*** Vera Pospelova,^3,**** Kazumi Matsuoka,^4,***** Gwenael Bilien,^1,****** Haifeng Gu,^5,******* Aika Yamaguchi<sup>6,********

1</sup>Ifremer, LITTORAL, Concarneau, France
²Department of Geology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
³Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences University of Minnesota Minneapolis MN USA
⁴C/O Institute for East China Sea Research, Nagasaki, Japan
⁵Department of Marine Biology and Ecology, Third Institute of Oceanography, Ministry of Natural Resources, Xiamen, China
⁶Faculty of Science, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan

^*Kenneth Neil Mertens is a researcher at Ifremer, LER BO, Concarneau, France. He received his PhD in 2009 from Ghent University. His research interests are the taxonomy, evolution, phylogeny and bio-geography of dinoflagellates, and the paleoceanographic application of dinoflagellate cysts, particularly in the Quaternary and Neogene.
^**Pjotr Meyvisch is a teaching assistant and PhD candidate (MSc geology in 2018) at the Department of Geology of Ghent University. He studies the macromolecular compositions of modern and fossil dinoflagellate cysts and other resting stages using spectroscopic techniques.
^***Pieter R. Gurdebeke is a geologist working on operational coastal oceanography at the Agency for Maritime and Coastal Services (Belgium). He is also associated with Ghent University as a post-doctoral collaborator, working on the (paleo)ecology, taxonomy and chemical composition (micro-FTIR) of marine and estuarine palynomorphs. He has interests in general environmental history and the local geology of Belgium in relation to industrial heritage. He obtained his PhD from the Department of Geology of Ghent University in 2019.
^****Vera Pospelova is a professor in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at the University of Minnesota. She received her Honors BSc in geology from Novosibirsk University (Russia) and her PhD in physical geography from McGill University (Canada). Her research interests include: taxonomy of late Quaternary dinoflagellate cysts; cyst production, ecology and seasonal dynamics in coastal waters; applications of dinoflagellate cysts as indicators of water quality conditions, with an emphasis on pollution and eutrophication in North American estuaries; and paleoceanographic reconstructions using sedimentary archives.
^*****Kazumi Matsuoka is a professor emeritus at Nagasaki University. Although retired since 2013, he continues scientific research on fossil and modern dinoflagellates – in particular, cyst–motile form relationships of both naked and thecate dinoflagellates.
^******Gwenael Bilien is a technician at Ifremer, LER BO, Concarneau, France. She runs the molecular laboratory and specializes in obtaining sequences from cultures of single cells.
^*******Haifeng Gu is a professor at Third Institute of Oceanography, China. He received his PhD in 2007 from Ocean University of China. His research interests are the taxonomy and evolution of dinoflagellates.
^********Aika Yamaguchi is a postdoctoral researcher at Hokkaido University, Japan. She works on the biodiversity of heterotrophic dinoflagellates.