Chrysochromulina pringsheimii is a haptophyte microalga in the family Prymnesiaceae, named for the German botanist Nathanael Pringsheim, who made foundational contributions to algal biology in the nineteenth century. The species follows the Chrysochromulina body plan: a biflagellate cell with a haptonema and a surface coat of organic scales arranged in overlapping layers. Scale morphology observed under electron microscopy provides the principal characters used to distinguish C. pringsheimii from related species. The species is found in marine and occasionally brackish coastal waters of northern Europe, consistent with the biogeographic concentration of described Chrysochromulina diversity in Scandinavian seas. As a nanoplankton primary producer, it participates in carbon fixation and the transfer of photosynthetically fixed carbon to higher trophic levels via grazing by heterotrophic nanoflagellates and microzooplankton. Some Chrysochromulina species produce dimethylsulfoniopropionate, contributing to the oceanic sulfur cycle. The conservation status of C. pringsheimii has not been evaluated by the IUCN, and the species is listed as Not Evaluated. Global environmental sequencing suggests that the diversity of haptophyte nanoflagellates in the world's oceans greatly exceeds what has been formally described.