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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.