Catalog - Paragloborotalia griffinoides

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Other pages this level: P. griffinoides, P. lefkaraensis

Paragloborotalia griffinoides

Citation: Paragloborotalia griffinoides Olsson & Pearson, in Olsson et al. 2006

Type specimens: PLATE 5.7, FIGURES 1-19;

Type sample (& lithostrat): TDP Site 13/16/1, 65-75 cm

Type age (chronostrat): uppermost Zone E9

Type locality: Mkazambo, Tanzania

Type repository: Washington; USNM

Type of wall: Normal perforate, coarsely cancellate, sacculifer-type, spinose.

Test morphology: Test very low trochospiral, globular, subquadrate in outline; chambers globular, much inflated, embracing; in spiral view 4, occasionally 4½ globular, embracing chambers in ultimate whorl, increasing rapidly in size; sutures slightly depressed, straight; last 4 chambers make up about three-quarters of the test, ultimate chamber may be slightly reduced in size; in umbilical view 4, occasionally 4½ globular, embracing chambers, increasing rapidly in size, sutures slightly depressed, straight; umbilicus very small opening, sometimes closed off by surrounding chambers; aperture umbilical-extraumbilical, bordered by a narrow, often thickened, continuous, lip; ultimate chamber may be slightly reduced in size; in edge view chambers globular, periphery rounded, aperture a high arch extending midway onto the peripheral edge, bordered by a thickened lip.

Maximum diameter of holotype 0.41 mm, minimum diameter 0.39 mm, maximum width 0.29 mm.

Named because it is like, but not identical to, Parasubbotina griffinae (Blow).

Synonyms:

Globorotalia bolivariana Petters, Bolli 1957a: 169, pl. 37: fig. 14a-16 [Porticulasphaera mexicana Zone, Navet Fm., Trinidad]. [Not Petters, 1954.]
Subbotina bolivariana (Petters).—McKeel and Lipps, 1972:85, pl. 1, fig.1a-c [middle Eocene, Tulee Fm., Coast Ranges, Oregon]. [Not Petters, 1954.]
“Hastigerina” bolivariana (Petters).—Poag and Commeau, 1995:144, pl. 4: figs. 22, 23 [middle Eocene, Hammond core, Maryland]. [Not Petters, 1954.]
Globorotaloides wilsoni Cole.—Poore and Brabb, 1977:263, pl. 2: figs. 10-13 [middle Eocene Zone E13, Twobar Shale Member, San Lorenzo Fm., Santa Cruz mountains, California]. [Not Cole, 1927.]
Globorotalia (Turborotalia) griffinae Blow, 1979:1072 (partim), pl. 157: fig. 7 [Zone E8, KANE 9-Core 42, Endeavour seamount, equatorial Atlantic Ocean]; pl. 162, figs. 8-9 [Zone E8, KANE 9-Core 42, Endeavour seamount, equatorial Atlantic Ocean]; pl. 165, figs. 1-3 [Zone E8, KANE 9-C piston core, Endeavour seamount, equatorial Atlantic Ocean]. [Not Blow, 1979.]
Turborotalia griffinae (Blow).—Toumarkine and Luterbacher, 1985:127, fig. 27:18 (reillustration of Blow 1979, pl. 165, fig. 2); fig. 27:19-23 [Middle Eocene, Bou Arada, Tunisia.] [Not Blow, 1979.]. Warraich and Ogasawara, 2001:23, fig. 5: 13, 14, 18 [Zone E10-12, Kirthar Fm., Sulaiman Range, Pakistan]. [Not Blow, 1979.]
Globorotalia nana Bolli. Poore and Bybell, 1988:18, pl. 5: fig. 9 [upper Eocene, Core ACGS # 4, New Jersey Coastal Plain]. [Not Bolli, 1957b.]

Diagnostic characters: P. griffinoides is distinguished by its small, very low trochospiral, compact, subquadrate test, coarsely cancellate wall, and aperture with a thickened continuous lip. Parasubbotina varianta is more loosely coiled and its chambers are less embracing than in P. griffinoides, leading to a more lobulate test. In P. griffinoides, the apertural lip is more uniform and constant in thickness than in P. varianta and other species of Parasubbotina. Parasubbotina griffinae differs from Paragloborotalia griffinoides in its generally larger test size, greater number of chambers in the ultimate whorl, and high porosity, reticulate wall.

Taxonomic discussion: When Blow (1979) described Globorotalia (Turborotalia) griffinae ( =Parasubbotina griffinae) he selected the holotype and some paratypes from the same sample (KANE 9 Core 42, 200 cm) from which he also illustrated Hastigerina? bolivariana (= Pseudoglobigerinella bolivariana). His case for regarding griffinae as ancestral to bolivariana is clear from the SEM illustrations of the two species (his pl. 150, figs. 1-9) as they both share a sacculifer-type reticulate wall texture. The illustration of paratypes from other levels in KANE 9 Core 42 (his pl. 157, fig. 7, from 95 cm; pl. 162, figs. 8, 9, from 42 cm; pl. 165, figs. 1-3, from 15 cm), however, clearly differ from the holotype and paratypes of the species illustrated from the type level of the holotype. These paratypes differ in having a more coarsely cancellate, non-reticulate wall texture and a thickened, continuous apertural lip. The test is more compact and subquadrate in shape, in contrast to P. griffinae. These morphotypes are the basis for the new species, Paragloborotaliagriffinoides. Toumarkine and Luterbacher (1985) and Warraich and Ogasawara (2001) also included morphotypes like these in griffinae (which were placed by them in Turborotalia, fig. 27:19-23 and fig. 5: 13, 14, 18, respectively). P. griffinoides is a common and widespread form in the Eocene and its stratigraphic range is from lower to upper Eocene.

Geographic distribution: P. griffinoides seems to have preferred cold-water high productivity environments and is generally absent from deep-sea oligotrophic settings.

Isotope paleobiology: Recorded (as P. wilsoni) by Pearson and others (2001) with consistently positive ∂18O and strongly depleted ∂13C indicating a deep planktonic habitat.

Phylogenetic relations: The genus Paragloborotalia arose through the development of P. griffinoides from Parasubbotina varianta in Zone P5. The close relationship of P. griffinoides and P. varianta is clearly seen in specimens from Zone E1 in the Bass River Borehole, New Jersey (Pls. 5.7 and 5.13). The two species are linked by transitional morphotypes that show a range of test morphology from the inflated, compact, subquadrate test of P. griffinoides to the more loosely coiled, less inflated test of P. varianta.

Geological Range: Zone E1 to Zone E16.

References:

Olsson, R. K., Pearson, P. N. & Huber, B. T. (2006c). Taxonomy, biostratigraphy, and phylogeny of Eocene Catapsydrax, Globorotaloides, Guembelitrioides, Paragloborotalia, Parasubbotina, and Pseudoglobigerinella n. gen. In, Pearson, P. N., Olsson, R. K., Hemleben, C., Huber, B. T. & Berggren, W. A. (eds) Atlas of Eocene Planktonic Foraminifera. Cushman Foundation for Foraminiferal Research, Special Publication . 41(Chap 5): 67-110. gs O

CATALOG OF ORIGINAL DESCRIPTIONS: Paragloborotalia griffinoides Olsson & Pearson, in Olsson et al. 2006

Paragloborotalia griffinoides

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