Special Publication 43
The Last Global Extinction (Mid-Pleistocene) of Deep-sea Benthic Foraminifera (Chrysalogoniidae, Ellipsoidinidae, Glandulonodosariidae, Plectofrondiculariidae, Pleurostomellidae, Stilostomellidae), Their Late Cretaceous-Cenozoic History and Taxonomy
B. W. Hayward, S. Kawagata, A. Sabaa, H. Grenfell, L. Van Kerckhoven, K. Johnson, and E. Thomas
This publication documents the global biostratigraphy, paleogeography, paleoecology and taxonomy of six families of benthic foraminifera (Chrysalogoniidae, Glandulonodosariidae, Plectofrondiculariidae, Ellipsoidinidae, Pleurostomellidae, Stilostomellidae) that together dominated deep-sea (600-4000 m) faunas in the Eocene. All but one species in these families became extinct in the Last Global Extinction in the deep sea, when 105 species and 30 genera disappeared during the late Pliocene-middle Pleistocene (3.6-0.13 Ma), mostly during the mid-Pleistocene Climate Transition (1.2-0.55 Ma). Possible explanations for these extinctions are investigated and appear to have been related to unusual features of their apertures.
In total, 253 species from 38 genera in the Extinction Group families are described, of which 26 species and 12 genera are new. A further 373 species and 20 genera are suppressed as subjective junior synonyms. Apertural features and chamber arrangements provide the basis for the higher classification. Global and regional time range charts are provided, together with 1100 scanning and light microscope images of types and representative specimens.
This book should be of considerable interest also to paleontologists, paleoceanographers, evolutionary biologists and anyone interested in deep-sea biota and its environment. It provides the most detailed Cenozoic history ever assembled of a group of deep-sea organisms, with new insights into their longevity, evolution and the impact of global climate changes on the largest, but least known, habitat on Earth.