Significant Miocene larger foraminifera from South Central Java

The Gunung Sewu area of South Central Java, Indonesia during Mid Miocene, Langhian-Serravallian (Tf1-Tf2), was deposited in a large area of warm, very shallow-marine water. Coralline algae and abundant larger benthic foraminifera dominate the carbonate lithologies. Larger benthic foraminifera from previously unstudied sections in South Central Java are described and figured. They have led to an understanding of sequence stratigraphic and facies relationship of Miocene carbonates in Indonesia. Thirteen larger foraminifera species are described and illustrated. A detailed biostratigraphical studies of The phylogeny Katacycloclypeus annulatus - K. martini and the gradual evolution from Austrotrillina asmariensis into A. howchini are recognised. Analysis of the larger benthic foraminifera has allowed accurate dating of the carbonate sections studied using the East Indian Letter Classification

Revised diagnostic first and last occurrences of Mesozoic and Cenozoic planktonic foraminifera

The diagnostic first and last occurrences of Cretaceous, Paleogene and Neogene planktonic foraminifera species are given, and have been calibrated and revised against the most recent biostratigraphical time scale and radio-isotope data

The phylogenetic and palaeogeographic evolution of the miogypsinid larger benthic foraminifera

Access to new material from South Africa, Corsica, Cyprus, Syria and Sumatra has allowed a systematic biostratigraphic comparison and correlation of the miogypsinids from the Mediterranean–West Africa and the Indo-Pacific provinces, and for the first time from South Africa. Twelve new species have been identified: Neorotalia tethyana, Miogypsinella bornea, Miogypsina subiensis, M. niasiensis, M. regularia, M. samuelia, Miolepidocyclina banneri, Miogypsinella cyprea, Miogypsina mcmillania, M. africana, M. ianmacmilliana and M. southernia. The palaeogeographical evolution of the miogypsinids started with a trans-Atlantic migration of Neorotalia from the Americas, where miogypsinids had originated. The eastward migration followed two paths: one to the south towards South Africa, where a distinct phylogenetic lineage, but similar to that found in America, developed but went extinct in the Burdigalian; the other to the north, through the Mediterranean corridor. During the Chattian and Aquitanian significant miogypsinid forms evolved in the Mediterranean from the morphologically distinct Mediterranean Neorotalia and migrated, within a few million years of their first appearance, into the Indo-Pacific, where they diversified further. The tectonically driven closure of the seaway between the Mediterranean and the Indo-Pacific in the Burdigalian triggered the extinction of Mediterranean miogypsinids in the Langhian. Miogypsinids survived in the Indo-Pacific into the Serravallian

Diagnostic First and Last Occurrences of Mesozoic and Cenozoic Planktonic Foraminifera

The diagnostic first and last occurrences of Cretaceous, Paleogene and Neogene planktonic foraminifera species are given, and have been calibrated against the most recent biostratigraphical time scale and radio-isotope data

Biostratigraphic and Geological Significance of Planktonic Foraminifera

The role of fossil planktonic foraminifera as markers for biostratigraphical zonation and correlation underpins most drilling of marine sedimentary sequences and is key to hydrocarbon exploration. Biostratigraphic and Geological Significance of Planktonic Foraminifera unifies existing biostratigraphic schemes and provides an improved correlation reflecting regional biogeographies. It presents a comprehensive analysis of existing data on fossil planktonic foraminifera genera and their phylogenetic evolution in time and space. Coverage includes presentation and discussion of rarely studied thin sections of planktonic foraminifera, allowing for new developments in dating planktonic foraminifera in carbonates and expanding their usefulness in hydrocarbon exploration

Marcelle BouDagher-Fadel

For me, the central questions in palaeobiology are the implications of the process of speciation and radiation in space and time. Ever since the articulation of the Darwin- Wallace Theory of Evolution, the nature of biological species within the context of natural evolution - and indeed the process of speciation itself - have been an enduring and key topic. Throughout geological time and up to the present day, life in the ocean shows an exciting and fascinating exuberance of biodiversity. Living biological species are largely genetically identical and capable of inter-breading but, in the fossil record, morphology and palaeoecological context must be used to infer kinship. All biological characters of the species are then used to infer its origin, its progress in biostratigraphic columns, and its eventual demise. These characteristics also guide the classification and phylogenetic lineages of the group of species and their speciation in time. Hohenegger (2012) defined speciation as the splitting up of a group of genotypes into groups with differing genotypic frequencies, while a unique species is homogeneous in its genetic composition. However, the biological concept of species is still not globally unified and the factors leading to speciation are yet not widely understood

Genotypes of Septatrocholina and Alzonorbitopsella, two new Jurassic foraminifera: subsequent designations

When the genera Septatrocholina BouDagher-Fadel and Banner and Alzonorbitopsella BouDagher-Fadel were erected (BouDagher-Fadel 2008, pp. 161; 175), the genotypes Septatrocholina banneri and Alzonorbitopsella arabia, respectively, were described and figured, but through an oversight the holotypes and paratypes were not identified among the illustrated specimens. The type specimens are here subsequently designated, in accordance with ICZN 1999, article 69, and are further described. The type specimen slides are deposited in the invertebrate collections of the Natural History Museum, London

Evolution and Geological Significance of Larger Benthic Foraminifera, Second Edition

Evolution and Geological Significance of Larger Benthic Foraminifera is a unique, comprehensive reference work on the larger benthic foraminifera. This second edition is substantially revised, including extensive re-analysis of the most recent work on Cenozoic forms. It provides documentation of the biostratigraphic ranges and paleoecological significance of the larger foraminifera, which is essential for understanding many major oil-bearing sedimentary basins. In addition, it offers a palaeogeographic interpretation of the shallow marine late Paleozoic to Cenozoic world. Marcelle K. BouDagher-Fadel collects and significantly adds to the information already published on the larger benthic foraminifera. New research in the Far East, the Middle East, South Africa, Tibet and the Americas has provided fresh insights into the evolution and palaeographic significance of these vital reef-forming forms. With the aid of new and precise biostratigraphic dating, she presents revised phylogenies and ranges of the larger foraminifera. The book is illustrated throughout, with examples of different families and groups at the generic levels. Key species are discussed and their biostratigraphic ranges are depicted in comparative charts

The Paleogeographic Evolution of the Orthophragminids of the Paleogene

Orthophragminids are larger benthic foraminifera (LBF) and, together with the nummulitids, were the major rock-forming foraminifera from the middle Paleocene to the late Eocene. Today, porous, LBF-bearing, Paleogene limestones, which occur globally from the Pacific and Atlantic margins of the Americas to the Indo-Pacific, form potentially valuable oil reservoirs, and their biota have formed the basis of the definition of three paleobiogeographic provinces, namely those of the Americas, Tethys, and the Indo-Pacific. The orthophragminids of the western part of the Tethyan Province have been studied extensively, however, the other provinces are less well characterized, and until now the origin and paleogeographic development of this group have not been fully articulated. New material described here allows the clear definition of a fourth, South African paleobiogeographic province, and, when combined with refined biostratigraphic dating based on new material from the Americas, Europe, South Asia and SE Asia, enables their paleogeographic and biostratigraphic evolution to be determined. Critically, the occurrence of cosmopolitan planktonic foraminifera (PF) within LBF assemblages enables the first occurrences of various LBF forms within each province to be dated relative to well-calibrated planktonic zones (PZ). From this, we infer that, like the previously studied lepidocyclinids and nummulitids, the orthophragminids originated in the Americas during the Paleocene, probably between the late Danian (PZ P1c, 63.5 Ma) and the early Selandian (PZ P3a, 61.6 Ma). By the middle Paleocene, the orthophragminids had migrated across the Atlantic to the previously isolated West African coast at the extreme of Tethys, probably during global sea-level low stands at 60.3 Ma and again at 56.4 Ma. Subsequently, the American Province again became isolated. In the Tethys, the orthophragminid migrations followed two paths: northeastward through the Tethyan corridor in the late Paleo-cene (Thanetian), and south in the earliest Eocene (Ypresian) to South Africa. The Tethyan forms evolved during the Eocene into many lineages, which in turn migrated, after a few million years of their first appearances into the Indo-Pacific, where they again became isolated and diversified further. Meanwhile the South African forms remained similar to their American ancestors in both small size and external ornamentation, while their internal evolution closely followed that of Tethys forms, as exhibited by three species of Nemkovella and Discocyclina described here from South Africa (Nemkovella mcmilliana n. sp., Discocyclina davyi n. sp. and D. africana n. sp.)

The phylogenetic and palaeogeographic evolution of the nummulitoid larger benthic foraminifera

Nummulitoidea are larger benthic foraminifera, and were major reef-forming organisms from the Middle Paleogene to Early Neogene. Today, porous nummulitoid limestones, which occur globally from the Atlantic to the Indo-Pacific, form potentially valuable oil reservoirs. Until now the origin, evolution and palaeogeographic development of the nummulitoids have not been fully articulated, but new material allows here the first systematic, global biostratigraphic comparison and correlation of the nummulitoids to be made. It is suggested that the nummulitoids originated in the Americas during the Middle Paleocene (Selandian). These early nummulitoids are inferred to have migrated across the Atlantic in the Late Paleocene (Thanetian) following two paths: south towards SW Africa, and northeastward through the Tethyan corridor. The Tethyan forms evolved during the Eocene into many lineages, which in turn migrated, within a few million years of their first appearance, into the Indo-Pacific, where they became isolated and diversified further. Meanwhile the SW African forms remained small and similar to the original American stock until the Early Miocene (Burdigalian), when assemblages were augmented by forms that migrated from Tethys, an event established by the discovery of new Mediterranean-derived species of Planostegina in SW Africa: africana, mcmillania, southernia, langhiana. Climatic and tectonic processes contributed to the Middle Oligocene disappearance of Nummulites and the Early Miocene global extinction of Spiroclypeus and of Cycloclypeus in the Mediterranean. Morphologically small nummulitoids persisted however, and are still present in all provinces to this day