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FORAMS (FORAMINIFERA)
1
One-celled marine protists with tests of calcium carbonate (CaCO3) through which they project many
pseudopodia (rhizopodia) used for locomotion, anchoring and to capture food. These rhizopodia often form a net
(like a spider’s web) to catch food.
Domain / Kingdom: Eukaryota / Rhizaria (formerly classed as Protista)
Phylum: Foraminifera
Class:
Order:
Other Classification:
Nickname: “Hole Bearers” “Forams”
Time Period: PreCambrian to Present (Paleozoic all benthic, Mesozoic first planktonic)
Colonial / Solitary / Social: Solitary
Habitat / Locomotion: Benthic or Planktonic – sessile or locomotion via pseudopodia (rhizopodia)
Most marine, a few freshwater. At all latitudes & water temps.
Mode of Life: Primary consumers of bacteria, diatoms, algae – some with symbiotic algae
Structural Material: Calcium Carbonate test – some with Tectin/Hyaline protein of fantastically variable
shapes – single or multi-chambered
Type of Rock Found In: Limestones, many composed
largely of Foram tests
Identifying Characteristics:
Size: Microscopic, most < 1mm – smaller than a sand grain
Other: Distinctive tests used as primary biostratigraphic
indicators of ocean depth, currents & climate; indicators of
petroleum deposits. The most abundant shelled organisms in
the oceans.
Nummulites (FORAMS)
2
A large, coin-shaped foram of the genus Nummulites, widely distributed in limestone formations from the Eocene
Epoch to the Miocene Epoch of the Cenozoic.
Domain / Kingdom: Eukaryota / Rhizaria (formerly classed as Protista)
Phylum: Foraminifera
Class: Rotaliida
Order: Nummulitacea
Nickname: “little coins”
Genus: Nummulites
Time Period: Paleocene to Miocene (Cenozoic) – now extinct
Colonial / Solitary / Social: Solitary
Habitat: Benthic - Warm Shallow Ocean areas
Mode of Life: Primary consumers of bacteria, diatoms, algae – since large, may have had symbiotic algae
Type of Rock Found In: Limestone
Structural Material: Calcium Carbonate test
Identifying Characteristics: Disk-shaped spiral (planispiral) test
Size: Large Forams: 0.1 – 18 cm
Other: Egyptian pyramids composed largely of nummulitic benthic forams
Fusilinids (FORAMS)
3
Large foot-ball shaped Forams the lived only in the Carboniferous and Permian.
Domain / Kingdom: Eukaryota / Rhizaria (formerly classed as Protista)
Phylum: Foraminifera
Class:
Order: Fusilinida
Nickname: “Hole Bearers” “Forams”
Time Period: Carboniferous (late Mississippian) to Permian (extinct in “the Great Dying” at end of Permian)
Colonial / Solitary / Social: Solitary
Habitat / Locomotion: Benthic - Warm Ocean areas
Mode of Life: Primary consumers of bacteria, diatoms, algae – since large, may have had symbiotic algae
Structural Material: Calcium Carbonate test
Type of Rock Found In: Limestone, where they may form the primary constituent (ex. Kansas Cottonwood
Limestone)
Identifying Characteristics: Football shaped
Size: Large for Forams: 0.1 – 5 mm
Other: Index fossils for Pennsylvanian & Permian rocks. Petroleum indicators
5 mm
Fusulinids in limestone. Each fusulinid is about the size and shape of a grain of rice.