Taxonomic review of living planktonic foraminifera.
Journal of Micropaleontology
41, 29-74
Publication
Available for editors
Applications of fossil shells of planktonic foraminifera to decipher past environmental change and
plankton evolution require a robust operational taxonomy. In this respect, extant planktonic foraminifera provide
an opportunity for benchmarking the dominantly morphological species concepts and classification of the group
by considering ecological, physiological and genetic characters. Although the basic framework of the taxonomy
of extant planktonic foraminifera has been stable for half a century, many details have changed, not the least in
light of genetic evidence. In this contribution, we review the current taxonomy of living planktonic foraminifera,
presenting a comprehensive standard that emerged from the meetings and consultations of the SCOR/IGBP
Working Group 138 “Planktonic foraminifera and ocean changes”.We present a comprehensive annotated list of
50 species and subspecies recognized among living planktonic foraminifera and evaluate their generic and suprageneric
classification. As a result, we recommend replacing the commonly used names Globorotalia menardii by
G. cultrata and Globorotalia theyeri by G. eastropacia, recognize Globorotaloides oveyi as a neglected but valid
living species, and propose transferring the three extant species previously assigned to Tenuitella into a separate
genus, Tenuitellita. We review the status of types and designate lectotypes for Globoturborotalita rubescens
and Globigerinita uvula. We further provide an annotated list of synonyms and other names that have been applied
previously to living planktonic foraminifera and outline the reasons for their exclusion. Finally, we provide
recommendations on how the presented classification scheme should be used in operational taxonomy for the
benefit of producing replicable and interoperable census counts.
