[3] This newly identified taxonomic class of phytoplankton are named after a professor from the Hawai’i institute of marine biology, known as Michael Rappé.

[citation needed] Coccolithophores are responsible for approximately 50% of the calcium carbonate precipitation in oceans.

They represent a plastid-bearing protistan lineage, identified using molecular sequencing techniques with environmental plastid 16s rRNA.

Using DNA libraries it was discovered that these species are closely related to Gephyrocapsa huxleyi and Prymnesium parvum which are both primary producers.

[1] Since Rappephyceae are considered coccolithophores, they can act as microfossils giving insight into previous ecological conditions.