Silicoloculinida
| Silicoloculinida Temporal range: Late Miocene - Recent. | |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| (unranked): | SAR |
| (unranked): | Rhizaria |
| Phylum: | Retaria |
| Subphylum: | Foraminifera |
| Order: | Silicoloculinida Resig, et al, 1980 |
The Silicoloculinida are an order of Cenozoic benthic foraminifera with tests made of imperforate opaline silica. The order is known from a single genus, Miliammellus, in the family Silicoloculinidae.
The family Silicoloculinidae, named by Resig, et al., 1980, is characterized by tests that resemble those of the impeforate calcarous Miliolidae, or the finely agglutinated Rzehakinidae in which chambers are about half a coil in length and arranged in various planes.
Miliammellus, the one genus, named by Saidova and Burmistrova, 1978, has a small ovoid test, up to 0.5 mm long with chambers arranged as in the miliolid Quinqueloculina. Chambers are slightly more than half a coil in length, resulting in successive whorls being offset, and are widest at their base, narrowing toward the aperture, a low arch at the end of the final chamber. Miliammellus has a range from the Upper Miocene to recent and has been found in the Bering Sea, Antarctic, north and central Pacific, and Indian Oceans at abyssal depths below 4,000 m. The type species is Miliammellus legis Saidova and Burmistrova, 1978.
References
- Systematics of modern foraminifera, from Loeblich and Tappan (1992), in Barun K. Sen Gupta 2002 Modern Foraminifera
- Forminiferal Genera and their Classification by Alfred R. Loeblich Jr and Helen Tappan,1988. Foraminiferida-GSI