Saracenaria spinosa Eichenberg, 1935

Bergh, Eugene W. & Compton, John S., 2022, Taxonomy of Middle Miocene foraminifera from the northern Namibian continental shelf, Zootaxa 5091 (1), pp. 1-55 : 17

Saracenaria spinosa Eichenberg, 1935

Pl. 3, figs. 3a–c

Saracenaria spinosa Eichenberg, 1935 , pl. 4, fig.5; Bolli et al., 1994, p. 28, fig. 8.44–8.48.

Description: The test wall is calcareous, smooth and finely perforate. The test is planispiral, becoming rectilinear and is triangular in section, almost twice as long as wide. Ridges form along the test surface, ending in spines along margins and pointing away from the apertural end. Chambers enlarge toward the terminal end, with the terminal chamber being the largest. The initial end is slightly curved away from the apertural end. The apertural face is triangular and broad. The aperture is radiate at the dorsal angle of the final chamber.

Remarks: Specimens of this species are relatively large, measuring up to 0.5 mm in width and 1 mm in length. The relative abundance is low (<1%).

Life strategy: Species of the genus Saracenaria are generally epifaunal ( Barbieri & Panieri, 2004).

Global stratigraphic range: S. spinosa is recorded to occur from the Cretaceous to Recent ( Bolli et al., 1994).

Regional occurrence: This is the first documentation of this species in the region and occurs in middle Miocene sediments on the Namibian outer continental shelf, south of the Kunene River mouth (this study).