Xenophyophorea is a clade of foraminiferans. Xenophyophores are multinucleate unicellular organisms found on the ocean floor throughout the world's oceans, at depths of 500 to 10,600 metres. They are a kind of foraminiferan that extract minerals from their surroundings and use them to form an exoskeleton known as a test.
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 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.
In biology, a test is the hard shell of some spherical marine animals and protists, notably sea urchins and microorganisms such as testate foraminiferans, radiolarians, and testate amoebae. The term is also applied to the covering of scale insects. The related Latin term testa is used for the hard seed coat of plant seeds.
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.
Rotaliata is a class of Foraminifera characterized by tests that are exclusively multichambered, mostly planospiral or trochspiral, or derived from either. The aperture is commonly at the base of the apertural face, at least in early stages, but may be terminal, and single or complex. Test interior may be complex with secondary chambers and interconnecting canal system.
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.
Tubothalamea is a taxonomic class established for foraminiferans with tubular chambers. Includes the porcelaceous and agglutinated Miliolida and the monocrystalline and agglutinated Spirillinida. It is one of two classes of multichambered foraminifera based on SSU rDNA molecular studies with consideration of major morphological trands, the other being the Globothalamea.
Globothalamea comprises a class of multichambered foraminifera based in part on SSU rDNA evidence; the other is Tubothalamea.
"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.
Foraminiferal tests are the tests of Foraminifera.
Felix M. Gradstein is a Dutch-Canadian academic and a pioneer in quantitative stratigraphy and geologic time scale. At the University of Utrecht, he studied paleontology and stratigraphy, obtaining his Ph.D. taking a novel biometrical approach in micropaleontology, under the supervision of Professor CW Drooger. In 1976, after working two years for an oil company in Calgary, Canada, he joined the Geological Survey of Canada in its eastern division at the Bedford Institute of Oceanography in Nova Scotia. During his research there, he was instrumental in developing a novel quantitative method for the analysis of stratigraphic events. In 1992 Felix moved to Norway where he currently has an office at the University of Oslo and is Visiting Research Fellow at, University of Portsmouth, UK. From 1985 - 1989, he was chairman of International Geoscience Project (IGCP) 181 on Quantitative Stratigraphy. From 2000 to 2008 he was chair of the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS) and in 2010 was instrumental in founding the Geologic Time Scale Foundation. For his fundamental work concerning the Geologic Time Scale, geochronology in general, quantitative stratigraphy, and micropaleontology, the European Geosciences Union awarded him in 2010 the Jean Baptiste Lamarck Medal. Prof. Gradstein, a world-renowned stratigrapher discussed debates over the Geologic Time Scale with the Anthropocene working Group.
Nothia is an extinct genus of foraminifera described in 1964 by Pflaumann, belonging to the subfamily Bathysiphoninae and containing 5 species.
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.
Lamina is a monotypic fossil genus of agglutinated foraminifera belonging to the subfamily Ammomarginulinae. It contains the sole species Lamina irreperta, described in 1972.
