This page provides data from the catalog of type descriptions. The catalog is sorted alphabetically. Use the current identification link to go back to the main database.
Current identification/main database link: Archaeoglobigerina cretacea (d'Orbigny, 1840)
G. testa suborbiculari, compressa, rugoso-aculeata, spira obtusa, anfracribus tribus distinctis; loculis quinis, depresso-spheroidalibus, suturis excavatis; apertura magna in umbilico.
Original Description
Type Description (translated from French): Dimensions: diameter, a quarter of a millimeter. Shell subcircular, compressed, rugose, even covered with small conical protuberances of unequal size. Spire barely convex, very obtuse, comprising three very distinct whorls and, in the adult stage, fourteen to fifteen chambers. Chambers spherical, slightly depressed, numbering five in the last whorl, strongly separated, providing room for a broad and deep umbilicus in their center. Aperture, large in size, crescent-shaped located in the umbilicus itself. In the third chamber, one notices a second aperture, perhaps accidental.
Description of lectotype: The test is a low trochospire consisting of about 2½ whorls of inflated chambers. The dorsal surface is flattened and only slightly convex. The axial periphery is rounded and only very slightly if at all truncated. The equatorial profile is subcircular and the equatorial periphery is lobulate. The last whorl consists of five slowly and regularly enlarging, little embracing but inflated chambers, which are slightly compressed dorso-ventrally. The dorsal sutures are depressed, distinct, not thickened or limbate and the intercameral sutures are slightly curved. The ventral sutures are distinct, depressed and nearly radial; they are not thickened or limbate. The periphery of each chamber bears two weak, widely spaced carinae bordering the imperforate peripheral band. The dorsal carina does not appear to extend along the dorsal intercameral suture. The ventral carina on the last chamber is reflected along the apertural face but becomes weak and indistinct above the aperture; it is difficult to see the umbilical extension of the ventral carina on any chamber except the last formed. The umbilicus is broad and deep; the primary aperture opens into the umbilicus and is bordered by an asymmetric lip-like flap (porticus, see Banner and Blow, 1959). Relict parts of the primary apertures of the earlier chambers of the last whorl remain open into the umbilicus. The imperforate fragile tegillum, observed in the d'Orbigny collections as well as in our own topotypic specimens, is missing on the lectotype. The wall is calcareous, apparently radial in structure, and is uniformly and finely perforate except for the imperforate area between the carinae. The surface of the test is hispid, the hispidity being greatest along the umbilical margins of the chambers.
Size:
Extra details from original publication
No other species of the genus is as depressed as this species while having a broad umbilicus.
From Banner & Blow (1960)
Taxonomic remarks: D'Orbigny obtained this species from the Lower Campanian White Chalk of St. Germain, near Paris. In the material which is extant in the d'Orbigny collections deposited in the Museum National de I'Histoire Naturelle, Paris, only one tube of specimens remains which has this locality marked upon it in Terquem's handwriting; these must constitute the only available syntypic series. Six specimens were present of which two were broken, three others had infilled umbilici and only one test was clean and empty and corresponded with the original d'Orbigny illustration. This specimen has been selected and isolated as lectotype (here figured, pI. 7, fig. 1); like the specimen illustrated by d'Orbigny (1840) it possesses five inflated chambers in the last whorl, a slightly compressed last chamber, nearly radial ventral sutures, a broad open ventral umbilicus, an interiomarginal, umbilical aperture and a hispid surface. The lectotype isolated is considered to be conspecific with that drawn by d'Orbigny and may possibly be the same specimen. As will be seen from our illustration the lectotype possesses two broadly spaced but weak carinae and is probably conspecific with the form described by Brotzen (1936, p. 177, pI. 12, figs. 3a-c, pI. 13, fig. 3) from the lower Senonian of Eriksdal, Sweden, as Globotruncana globigerinoides Brotzen. Brotzen (op. cit., loc. cit.) has remarked that Globotruncana globigerinoides remarkably resembles Globigerina cretacea d'Orbigny but he considered them distinct because of the peripheral carinae present on his species. The carinae are very weak on d'Orbigny's specimens (as they are also on Brotzen's specimens) and it is not surprising that d'Orbigny overlooked them, especially considering the optical instruments available in 1840. Seven other specimens in the d'Orbigny collections labelled "G. cretacea d'Orbigny"" (probably in Terquem's handwriting), but with no locality recorded, were seen to be excellently preserved specimens of the genus Glabatruncana Cushman 1927, and three of these specimens were mounted showing their ventral sides with perfectly preserved tegilla present. These specimens were clearly conspeci'fic with the lectotype and showed a full range of variation from five to seven chambers in the last whorl. It is probable that the form described as Glabigerina cretacea var. saratagaensis by Applin (in Applin, Ellisor and Kniker, 1925, p. 98, pI. 3, fig. 8) may be a full junior synonym of Glabigerina cretacea d'Orbigny, as it appears to fall within the normal range of variation of d'Orbigny's species. However, it was probably a reworked specimen, being recorded originally from the Miocene Fleming Formation of Texas (see also Bronnimann and Brown, 1956 (1955), pp. 544-545) and strict topotype material is consequently I impossible to obtain. Bronnimann and Brown's figured hypotype of Glabatruncana saratagaensis (Applin) from the Taylor Marl (op. cit., pI. 21, figs. 1-3) may also be referable to Glabatruncana cretacea (d'Orbigny) 1840 nan Cushman 1938. As a result of our recognition of Glabigerina cretacea d'Orbigny 1840 as a species of the genus Glabotruncana Cushman 1927, the subsequent species Glabatruncana cretacea Cushman 1938 (not Glabatruncana cretacea (d'Orbigny 1840» becomes a junior homonym of d'Orbigny's species and the name Glabatruncana mariei is hereby proposed as a new name for Glabotruncana cretacea Cushman 1938, the holotype of which was obtained by Cushman from the Cretaceous Selma Chalk near Sardis, Tennessee, U. S. A., and which is deposited in the Cushman Collection, No. 15253. The new name Glaba-truncana mariei is in honour of M. Pierre Marie (B.R.G.G.M.) for his outstanding contributions to Micropalaeontology and his personal help to the present authors. We would regretfully point out that, to the best of our knowledge, all the diverse forms hitherto recorded by authors as Globigerina cretacea d'Orbigny have been incorrectly assigned to the species (see Remarks below). [Banner & Blow 1960]
Remarks: This species has been recorded by very many authors dating from Reuss in 1845 to the present day and our review of the literature shows that there is virtually no agreement between any of the authors as to the nature of the species. Over 100 references to this species are listed by Ellis and Messina (1940, et seq.) alone. Authors have ascribed forms to this species dating from the lowest Cretaceous to Recent (including forms taken in vivo from the recent seas, e. g., Brady 1884). Even within the Cretaceous faunas the identity of this species and its stratigraphic occurrence have been disputed; Weiss (1955, pp. 306-307) recorded a form which ranged Senonian to Danian; Bronnimann (1952, p. 14, textfig. 3) recorded a totally different form from the Cenomanian to Senonian. Bronnimann (op. cit., loc. cit.) lists many alleged American occurrences of this species with a variety of stratigraphic occurrences. As recently as 1959, Bolli (p. 270, pI. 22, figs. 8, 9) ascribed yet another species to G. cretacea, this time recording its range as Cenomanian to Coniacian. Examples such as this could be multiplied almost indefinitely and we believe that not one single record is correct; all these forms require new names and a clarification of their taxonomy is essential before their stratigraphic value can be ascertained. It is evident that much valuable stratigraphic information has already been lost by the lax usage of the name C. cretacea and the confused records that have resulted thereby. It is hoped that wherever possible present-day workers will reconsider their records of G. cretacea d'Orbigny 1840 and will rename their forms which are now obviously not referable to d'Orbigny's species.
With the evidence available to us we consider that Globotruncana cretacea (d'Orbigny) is limited in range from the Coniacian to Campanian, with the possibility of its occurrence in the highest Turonian. It is also possible that typical forms with the weak carinae do not occur above the Lower Campanian. [Banner & Blow 1960]"
Editors' Notes
Banner, F. T. & Blow, W. H. (1960a). Some primary types of species belonging to the superfamily Globigerinaceae. Contributions from the Cushman Foundation for Foraminiferal Research. 11: 1-41. gs O Banner, F. T. & Blow, W. H. (1960b). The taxonomy, morphology and affinities of the genera included in the subfamily Hastigerininae. Micropaleontology. 6(1): 19-31. gs d'Orbigny, A. (1840). Mémoire sur les foraminiféres de la craie blanche du bassin de Paris. Mémoires de la Société Géologique de France. 4(1): +34+-. gs Georgescu, M. D. (2012b). Morphology, taxonomy, stratigraphic distribution and evolutionary classification of the schackoinid planktic foraminifera (late Albian- Maastrichtian, Cretaceous). In, Bailey, D. R. , Howard, S. E. , (ed.) Deep-sea marine biology, geology, and human impact. Nova Publishers, New York 1-62. gsReferences:
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Globigerina cretacea compiled by the pforams@mikrotax project team viewed: 19-2-2025
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