EDIT

      $name_type_designation_refs = array();

        if($tokens[0] == 'NameTypeDesignation') {

          foreach($obj as $type_status => $entity_reference){

            // NOTE: there is always only one element, since we use the foreach to extract the field name an value

            $name_type_designation_refs[$type_status] = $entity_reference[0];

          }

        } else {

         $field_unit_uuids[] = $tokens[1];

        }

      }

      if(count($name_type_designation_refs) > 0){

        $render_array['name_type_designations'] = compose_name_type_designations($name_type_designation_refs);

      }

      if(count($field_unit_uuids) > 0){

        $render_array['specimen_table'] = compose_specimen_table($field_unit_uuids);

/**

 * Composes the TypedEntityReference to name type designations passed as associatve array.

 *

 * @param $name_type_designations array

 *   an associative array of name type type => TypedEntityReference for name type designations as

 *   produced by the eu.etaxonomy.cdm.api.service.name.TypeDesignationSetManager

 *

 * @ingroup compose

 */

function compose_name_type_designations($type_entity_refs){

  $render_array = array();

  foreach($type_entity_refs as $type_status => $name_type){

    $render_array[] = markup_to_render_array('<div class="name_type_designation ' . html_class_attribute_ref($name_type)  . '"><span class="type_status">'. ucfirst($type_status) . "</span>: " . $name_type->label . '</div>');

  }

  return $render_array;

}