bforams@mikrotax - Introduction

This site is being developed to provide a companion site to pforams@mikrotax dealing with benthic foraminifera. The prime objective is to document Mesozoic and Cenozoic deep-sea benthic foraminifera, to facilitate use of this group during IODP expeditions and post-cruise research. So the initial focus is on common deep-sea benthic foram taxa. The system has the potential, however, to expand beyond this.

Establishment and initial development of the system is supported by a grant from IODP to Brian Huber. A launch meeting for the project was held in August 2022 hosted at the Smithsonian in Washington, with both local and online participants. The participants strongly endorsed the objective of developing the site and agreed to assist with this. Under the guidance of Ashley Burkett a set of working groups were established to achieve this.

Brian Huber, Ashley Burkett, Jeremy Young

Workshop Participants

USA: Christina Belanger (Texas A&M), Joan Bernhard (WHOI), Chiara Borrelli (Rochester, NY), Ashley Burkett (Oklahoma State), Serena Dameron (Univ. Mass. Amherst), Trenity Ford (Oklahoma State), Megan Fung (Cal Lutheran), Olivia Gadson (Smithsonian), Brian Huber (Smithsonian), Mimi Katz (Rutgers Univ., NJ), R. Mark Leckie (Amherst), Oghalemeno Ononeme (Oklahoma State), Rob Poirier (USGS), Tony Rathburn (California State), Ellen Thomas (Yale)

EUROPE: Laia Alegret (Zaragosa), Victor Giraldo-Gomez (Milan), Ann Holbourn (Kiel), Wolfgang Kuhnt (Kiel), Martin Langer (Bonn), Maria Rose Petrizzo (Univ. Milan), Jaroslaw Tyszka (Polish Academy of Sciences, Krakow), Erik Wolfgring (Milan), Jeremy Young (UCL)

LATIN AMERICA Gabriela Arreguin Rodriguez (Baja California), Jorge Cardich (Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia, Peru), Karlos Kochhann (UNSINOS, Brazil), Renata Moura (Petrobras, Brazil), German David Patarroyo (UNISINOS, Brazil)

AUSTRALASIA: Bruce Hayward (Auckland, NZ)

A few features of the site

• Browsable interface - the site is arranged taxonomically but with lots of representative images and links on all pages, so you can easily browse it.
• Taxonomic search - swift search by taxon name is available from the top and bottom of every page.
• Advanced search - alternatively complex searches can be set up based on any combination of morphological features, geological age, taxonomy, etc. We have created a simple graphical interface for this which we hope will prove practical - comments welcome!
• Time control - you can select a time interval of interest (e.g. Albian) and taxa occurring in that interval will be highlighted.
• Range charts - on pages for genera and families a diagram appears at the bottom of the page showing the ranges of the subtaxa. Customised plots of various kinds can also be drawn from the range charts page.
• References - there is a searchable bibliography of the literature on deep-sea benthic foraminifera. Where PDFs are available in the public domain copies can be linked to the bibliography.
• User comments - there are comments boxes on every page and a forum page for broader questions or comments. Please use these!
• User guide - it is quite a large site so we recommend taking a look at this guide as well as browsing [the current guide needs redoing for the bforams site but is still useful].

Coverage to date (June 2023), sources, and plans

• Holbourn et al. (2013) - we started with this monograph since we had access to the original copy from the authors and the NHM (thanks to Steven Stukins) and since this was a very well-edited compilation of selected key deep-sea benthic forminifera. It was in turn siginificantly based on van Morkhoven et al. (1986) and additional images and text from that source will be added.
• Hayward et al. (2012) - this is a detailed, comprehensive review of seven families of deep-sea foraminifera that underwent a major extinction event in the Late Pliocene to middle Pleistocene. The taxonomic text from this publication is now incorporated, the images are being edited for inclusion. This will be the prime source for all members of those groups
• Katz et al. 2003 - a major survey of Oligocene deep-sea benthic foraminifera from the Atlantic. DONE - 30 species added from this publication (all species not already included from Holbourn et al. 2013 or to be included from Hayward et al. 2012).
• Alegret & Thomas 2001 - U. Cretaceous L. Paleogene benthic forams from Mexico - monograph on K/Pg taxa. - to be done ca 45 species not included in sources above to be added, and ideally all images
• van Morkhoven 1986 - monograph of Cenozoic deep-sea benthic foraminifera - to be done 9 species not included in sources above to be added, and ideally all images
• Tjalsma & Lohmann 1983 - review of Paleocene-Eocene bathyal & Abyssal benthic forams from the Atlantic. - to be done ca 40 species not included in sources above to be added, and ideally all images
• Brady 1884 / Jones 1994 - the Challenger monograph. To be done - to include all images of deep-sea benthic foraminifera and additional content from Jones 1993, where relevant.
• Additional taxa - working groups are identifying further taxa to expand the coverage, with an initial aim to include ca 1000 species.
• Classification - this is taken from the World Foraminifera Database (part of WoRMS), since this provides a single coherent scheme and has been very carefully curated (by Bruce Hayward and Francois LeCoze). For ease of navigation the taxonomy has been simplified by removal of higher taxa which do not usefully subdivide the represented species. As the site develops the classification used may change to reflect the opinions of the working group of specialists in these taxa.

• This is a separate database of original descriptions and type-specimen illustrations. This is currently little more than a listing of names but we plan to at least create detailed entries for the most significant deep sea species. /li>

• This is intended to include a comprehensive bibliography for works on the descriptive taxonomy of deep-sea benthic foraminifera. It has been largely compiled from the bibliographies of the included monographs.
• The mian bibliography is used to genrate reference lists on each page.
• PDF copies of the cited papers are being collected. All PDFs are available to the editorial team and public domain or out of copyright articles are available to all users.

Monographs we are using