Foraminifera are single-celled organisms, members of a phylum or class of Rhizarian protists characterized by streaming granular ectoplasm for catching food and other uses; and commonly an external shell of diverse forms and materials. Tests of chitin are believed to be the most primitive type. Most foraminifera are marine, the majority of which live on or within the seafloor sediment, while a smaller number float in the water column at various depths, which belong to the suborder Globigerinina. Fewer are known from freshwater or brackish conditions, and some very few (nonaquatic) soil species have been identified through molecular analysis of small subunit ribosomal DNA.
The Globigerinina is a suborder of foraminiferans that are found as marine plankton. They produce hyaline calcareous tests, and are known as fossils from the Jurassic period onwards. The group has included more than 100 genera and over 400 species, of which about 30 species are extant. One of the most important genera is Globigerina; vast areas of the ocean floor are covered with Globigerina ooze, dominated by the shells of planktonic forms.
The Fusulinida is an extinct order within the Foraminifera in which the tests are traditionally considered to have been composed of microgranular calcite. Like all forams, they were single-celled organisms. In advanced forms the test wall was differentiated into two or more layers. Loeblich and Tappan, 1988, gives a range from the Lower Silurian to the Upper Permian, with the fusulinid foraminifera going extinct with the Permian–Triassic extinction event. While the latter is true, a more supported projected timespan is from the Mid-Carboniferous period.
The Rotaliida are an order of Foraminifera, characterized by multilocular tests (shells) composed of bilamellar perforate hyaline lamellar calcite that may be optically radial or granular.
The Textulariida are an order of foraminifera that produce agglutinated shells or tests. An agglutinated test is one made of foreign particles glued together with an organic or calcareous cement to form an external shell on the outside of the organism. Commonly, the order had been made up of all species of Foraminifera with these types of shells, but genetic studies indicate these organisms do not form an evolutionary group, and several superfamilies in the order have been moved to the order Allogromiida. The remaining forms are sometimes divided into three orders: the Trochamminida and Lituolida, which have organic cement, and the Textulariida sensu stricto, which use a calcareous cement. All three orders or superfamilies are known as fossils from the Cambrian onwards.
Abadehella is a genus of large Upper Permian benthic forams in the order Fusulinida. It is the sole known genus of the family Abadahellidae, for which the diagnosis is the same. Abadahellidae was established by Loeblich and Tappan 1984; Abadahella by Okimura and Ishi, 1975.
The Spirillinida are an order of foraminifera in which the test, or shell, primitively consists of an enrolled open tube, coming after the proloculus, wound planospirally or conically, commonly composed of an optically single crystal of calcite. The aperture is a simple opening at the end of the tube. Advanced forms with more than one chamber may consist of a few crystals, or rarely, a mosaic of crystals of calcite.
Involutinida is an order of foraminifera included in the Spirillinata found in the fossil record from the early Permian to early Late Cretaceous (Cenomanian).
Miliamellus is a genus of Cenozoic benthic foraminifera with tests made of imperforate opaline silica. It is the only genus in the order Silicoloculinida and the family Silicoloculinidae. It is sometimes referred to by the junior synonym Silicoloculina.
Cibicides is a genus of cosmopolitan benthic foraminifera known from at least as far back as the Paleocene that extends down to the present.
Discorbis is a genus of benthic Foraminifera, that made its first appearance during the Eocene. Its present distribution is cosmopolitan.
Astrononion is a genus of foraminifera in the family Nonionidae, characterized by an evolute planispiral test with radially stellate structures partly covering the sutures on either side. The test is free, bilaterally symmetrical; periphery broadly rounded; chambers distinct, separated by depressed radial sutures, increasing gradually in size, and usually inflated; aperture a low arched opening at the base of the face of the test. The wall is of finely perforate monolamellar granular calcite.
The Ammodiscacea is a superfamily of foraminifera in the order Textulariida. tests are made of agglutinated grains and consist of a proloculus followed by an enrolled tubular second chamber open at the distal end, that lacks internal septa but which may have growth constrictions.
The Hormosinacea is a superfamily of agglutinated foraminifera in the Textulariida, with a range that extends from the Middle Ordovician, that unites seven families characterized by multilocular tests,, in a uniserial arrangement.
The Planorbulinacea are a superfamily of rotalliid foraminifera that has been extant since the Early Cretaceous (Berriasian), characterized by trochospiral tests, at least in early stage but which later may become uncoiled. The test wall is of perforate hyaline calcite, commonly optically radial in structure, with crystallographic c-axes perpendicular to the surface. The apertural face may be imperforate; the aperture interiomarginal and extraumbilical-umbilical to nearly equatorial in coiled forms, subterminal in uncoiled forms.
Clavulina is a genus of aggulinated benthic foraminiferans with an elongate test. The early stage is triserial and triangular in section, the later stage uniserial and rectilinear, with angular to rounded section. In some species agglutinated walls have considerable calcareous cement. Septa are secondarily doubled as a result of imperforate floors, which are added as new chambers are formed. Walls contain fine bifurcating canaliculi within, openings of which are sealed internally by an inner organic lining, and externally by the imperforate surface layer of the wall. The aperture is interiomarginal in the early triserial stage, terminal and rounded in the adult.
The Textulariacea is a superfamily of Middle Jurassic to Holocene agglutinated benthic textulariid Foraminifera. Tests are trochospiral, triserial, or biserial in early stages; later may be biserial or uniserial. Walls are agglutinated, made of gathered material cemented together and are canaliculate - contain micro-tubular cavities extending between the inner and outer surfaces.
Globigerinana are free living pelagic foraminiferan, included in the class Rotaliata that range from the Jurassic to recent. Test are commonly planospiral or trochospiral but may be uniserial to multiserial and are of secreted hyaline (glassy) calcite. Chambers are flattened in planospiral forms and spheroidal in trochospiral and serial forms. Some have long radial spines, or needles that may be solidly fixed or moveable in sockets. Gametes are biflagellate and are produced in greater number than by bottom dwelling benthic forms.
Stercomata are extracellular pellets of waste material produced by some groups of foraminiferans, including xenophyophoreans and komokiaceans, Gromia, and testate amoebae. The pellets are ovoid (egg-shaped), brownish in color, and on average measure from 10-20 μm in length. Stercomata are composed of small mineral grains and undigested waste products held together by strands of glycosaminoglycans.
Foraminiferal tests are the tests of Foraminifera.
