Chapter Four - Macroevolution and Biostratigraphy of Paleozoic Foraminifers
Introduction
With the Frasnian–Famennian crisis (FF), the first evolutive phase of the foraminifers was completed, and the second phase started and lasted until the Permian–Triassic boundary (PTB), where life on the Earth nearly disappeared completely. The initial phase of the foraminiferal history, from Cambrian to early Devonian, was dominated by agglutinated tests. The Givetian (middle Devonian) revolution resulted in the replacement of these agglutinated tests by calcareous secreted tests (Vachard et al., 2010). The lower Paleozoic agglutinated foraminifers are considered as belonging either to the classes Textulariata (Loeblich and Tappan, 1964, Loeblich and Tappan, 1987) and/or Astrorhizata (Vdovenko et al., 1993, Mikhalevich, 2003), but these so-called agglutinates could also have resulted from recrystallizations of secreted tests (Fig. 1).
Numerous discussions exist with respect to the oldest representatives of the foraminiferal phylum; especially about, (1) the bilocular, undivided, tubular forms; (2) the unilocular (or monothalamous) forms; and (3) the planispirally coiled, evolute, undivided tests. In this latter group, the first taxon that appears as early as the Cambrian was called Ammodiscus Reuss, an extant genus with a complicate taxonomy (Loeblich and Tappan, 1954). At the Permian–Triassic boundary, a taxon was successively called Ammodiscus; Cornuspira Schulze; Rectocornuspira Warthin; Postcladella Krainer and Vachard, and then again Ammodiscus (Nestell et al., 2015). Likewise, Paleozoic Hyperammina (auctorum non Brady), became Earlandia Plummer by the latter part of 20th century or renamed Sansabaina Loeblich and Tappan (according to the coarseness of their agglutinates), are currently reassigned to Hyperammina (Nestell et al., 2015).
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Paleozoic Foraminiferal Classes
The foraminifers have long been considered as an order or a class in the western European or North American literature (Sigal, 1952, Ciry, 1952, Loeblich and Tappan, 1964, Loeblich and Tappan, 1987, Loeblich and Tappan, 1992) and split into orders or superorders. In contrast in the Russian literature, it was recognized long ago that similar divisions were mostly subclasses and classes (Miklukho-Maklay et al., 1958, Miklukho-Maklay et al., 1959, Rauzer-Chernousova and Fursenko, 1959, Rozovskaya,
Paleozoic Foraminiferal Classification
Subkingdom RHIZARIA Cavalier-Smith, 2002
Phylum FORAMINIFERA d'Orbigny 1826 emend. Cavalier-Smith, 2003
Class ALLOGROMIATA Fursenko, 1958
Description: Foraminifers generally free and unilocular, with an organic-walled test. Aperture terminal simple.
Remarks: The status of this class during the Paleozoic has remained unchanged to what it was in the classical treatises and handbooks (Sigal, 1952, Loeblich and Tappan, 1964, Loeblich and Tappan, 1987, Vdovenko et al., 1993).
Occurrence: ?Late
Discussion
The phylum Foraminifera was known for five evolutionary periods: (1) lower Paleozoic–lower Devonian: “agglutinated” foraminifers are rare, and secreted foraminifers nearly absent; all the typical forms are uni- or bilocular; (2) Givetian–Frasnian: plurilocular, secreted foraminifers became abundant in shallow-water carbonates (concomitantly with the development of reefs); many modern architectures of a test are represented: planispiral involute, uniseriate and biseriate; (3) latest
Conclusions
- 1.
Six classes of organic-walled, secreted, and agglutinated foraminifers are present from Famennian to Permian: Allogromiata, Astrorhizata, Fusulinata, Miliolata, Nodosariata, and Textulariata.
- 2.
Biostratigraphically, the most interesting groups are the Archaediscoidea, Lasiodiscoidea, Bradyinoidea, Globivalvulinoidea, and the entire order of the Fusulinida, among the Fusulinata; the Cornuspirida among the Miliolata; and the entire class of the Nodosariata. The appearance of the order Verneuilinida
Acknowledgments
I warmly thank the reviewers G. Nestell, M. Nestell, I. Somerville, and P. Cózar, who improved the manuscript by their pertinent criticisms. Thanks to M. Montenari and H. Kabes for editorial advice, and to K. Zandkarimi (Tehran), S. Clausen and E. Locatelli (Villeneuve d'Ascq), K. Krainer (Innsbruck), and S. Lucas (Albuquerque), for their help.
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