Orbulina universa (d’Orbigny, 1839)

Ovechkina, Maria N., Bylinskaya, Marina E. & Uken, Ron, 2010, Planktonic foraminiferal assemblage in surface sediments from the Thukela Shelf, South Africa, African Invertebrates 51 (2), pp. 231-231 : 248-249

Orbulina universa (d’Orbigny, 1839)

Fig. 9H

Orbulina universa: d’Orbigny 1839 a: 3 , pl. 1, fig. 1; Brady 1879: 289; Saito et al. 1981: 70, pl. 19, figs 1a–d, 2a–b, 3a–b, 4–6; Loeblich & Tappan 1987: 494, pl. 541, figs 1–6, 8–11 (not fig.7); Cimerman & Langer 1991: 58, pl. 60, fig. 8; Loeblich & Tappan 1994: 109, pl. 211, figs 4–7; Basov & Krasheninnikov 1995: pl. V, fig. 10.

Globigerina bilobata d’Orbigny, 1846: 164 , pl. 9, figs 11–14; Brady 1879: 290; Banner & Blow 1960: 2–3, pl. 3, fig. 9.

Test large, spherical. Wall very thin, coarsely perforated with pores of two distinct sizes.

Remarks: This species is very distinctive in having two life stages, viz. a multichambered trochospiral stage followed by a single-chambered spherical stage ( Bé et al. 1973). However, the trochospiral form was not found in our material.

Distribution: Equatorial to temperate waters. Exceptionally abundant in our material.

Figures

Fig. 9. (A, B) Globigerinoides ruber (d’Orbigny, 1839), sample 22; (C) G. ruber, sample TB34; (D, E) G. ruber (aberrant form),sample 8; (F, G) Sphaeroidinella dehiscens (Parker &Jones,1865), sample 30; (H) Orbulina universa (d’Orbigny, 1839), sample C.