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 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 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.
Joseph Augustine Cushman was an American micropaleontologist and academic. He specialized in the study of marine protozoans (foraminifera) and became the foremost foraminiferologist of the first half of the twentieth century, developing to a "world-famous system of discovering petroleum deposits". He also was a founding father of Kappa Delta Phi fraternity.
Lukas Hottinger was a paleontologist, biologist and geologist. Hottinger collaborated with the Natural History Museum of Basel (Switzerland).
Quinqueloculina is a genus of foraminifera in the family Miliolidae.
Carterinida is an order of multi-chambered foraminifera within the Globothalamea. Members of this order form hard tests out of thin calcite rods known as spicules, which are held together by a proteinaceous matrix. As of August 2023, the order contains a single family, Carterinidae.
Nothia was a genus of Early Devonian vascular plants whose fossils were found in the Rhynie chert in Scotland. It had branching horizontal underground stems (rhizomes) and leafless aerial stems (axes) bearing lateral and terminal spore-forming organs (sporangia). Its aerial stems were covered with small 'bumps' (emergences), each bearing a stoma. It is one of the best described early land plants. Its classification remains uncertain, although it has been treated as a zosterophyll. There is one species, Nothia aphylla.
Cibicides is a genus of cosmopolitan benthic foraminifera known from at least as far back as the Paleocene that extends down to the present.
Globigerinoides is an extant genus of shallow-water planktonic foraminifera of family Globigerinidae. First appearing in the Oligocene these foraminifera are found in all modern oceans. Species of this genus occupy the euphotic zone, generally at depths between 10-50m, in waters which cover a range of salinities and temperatures. They are a shorter lived species, especially when compared to Globorotalia genus. As a genus Globigerinoides is widely used in various fields of research including biostratigraphy, isotope geochemistry, biogeochemistry, climatology, and oceanography.
Alfred R. Loeblich Jr (1914–1994) was an American micropaleontologist. He was married to Helen Niña Tappan Loeblich and the two co-authored a number of important works on the Foraminifera and related organisms.
Cuneolina is an extinct genus of prehistoric foraminifera in the family Cuneolinidae with species from the Jurassic and Cretaceous.
"Monothalamea" is a grouping of foraminiferans, traditionally consisting of all foraminifera with single-chambered tests. Recent work has shown that the grouping is paraphyletic, and as such does not constitute a natural group; nonetheless, the name "monothalamea" continues to be used by foraminifera workers out of convenience.
Linea is a genus of foraminifera belonging to the subfamily Rhabdammininae. It is a monotypic genus containing the sole species Linea simplex.
Nothia is the genus name of:
Lana is a genus of foraminifera described in 1977 belonging to the family Komokiidae. It contains three species.
Iridia is a genus of foraminifera belonging to the subfamily Tholosininae. It contains four species. The first species, I. diaphana, was discovered in the Querimba archipelago by scientists Edward Heron-Allen and Arthur Earland, who first described the genus in 1914.
Saccorhiza is a genus of foraminifera belonging to the subfamily Saccorhizinae and containing 18 species. Its type species was discovered by H.B. Brady and described as Hyperammina ramosa in 1879, but was later separated into its own genus in 1899.
Saccarena is a monotypic fossil genus of agglutinated benthic foraminifera described in 1969, belonging to the subfamily Saccorhizinae. It contains the sole species Saccarena bitubulifera. Its chronostratigraphic range is the Ludlovian, during the Upper Silurian.
Lamina is a monotypic fossil genus of agglutinated foraminifera belonging to the subfamily Ammomarginulinae. It contains the sole species Lamina irreperta, described in 1972.
