----~----------------------------------------~--~ CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE CUSHMAN FOUNDATION FOR FORAMINIFERAL RESEARCH VOLUME XVIII, Part 4 October, 1967 Contents PAGE .... No. 336. Wall structure and cementation in Haplaphragmoides callariellsis,. Kenneth 147 ~"'" No. 337. ~;ig~:,w;e~~~~~~~~~"' ~;~ "' ~~~;~~;; " ~;~~~~~~~~ " ~~ '" ~~~;;oboqua~;i~~~'~~;~ /~c:\.Wt t~l lvttS-4' i+ Frerichs and Vincent, gen. nov) Orville L. ~y, William E. ,Frerichs, and 23 -C<!l...-..o3, Ol ~ Edith Vincent .............................................................................................................................................................. 152 No. 338. New species of Upper Cretaceous Foraminifera from the Lower Ariyalur Stage /"7~J0ic.. of Vridhachalam and Pondicherry, India Ranjit K. Banerji ........................................ 158 No. 339. A revised classification of the Family-- Discocyclinidae- Galloway Bimal K. t'b It).. "" ,..:. l 164 /4""'6 c. i ,: No. 340. ~ ~a;:;:t:i~~ ·~~;~~;~;~ ·· ~~~~ ··~~ · ;;~~~~~~ ··~·~~ ·· ~~~ ·· ~~ · ~~~ .~~~~~ ...... ~~.. ~~. ;~~~ vic rom,M f~ t -=- '-II< I.., U,3 and W. H. Akers ....................................................................................................... ~ 168 Cel~~~ ' y,PI- ", 5 1 No. 341. Test recalcification in Rosalilla f/oridalZa (Cushman) Robert W. Angell, ........ 176 fi:,~""-i." Recent Literature on the Foraminifera Ruth Todd .................. .. 178 /-9 ~ 1"<>..""-.\ -"I"'~ . In 1>11' o(j"""I'~ ' 1967 I ' Tii-:! l • t ( CONTRIBU TIONS FROl\:1 THE} CUS HIVIAN FOUNDATI ON FOR F'O R Al\l1 N IFEHAL RES EARCH 14 CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE C USHMAN FOUNDATION FOR FORAMINIFERAL RESEARC H VOLUME XVIII, P ART 4 , O CTOB ER 1967 336. WALL STRUCTURE AND CEMENTATION IN HAPLaPHRAGMOIDES CANARIENSIS K ENNETH M. TOWE Department of Paleobiology, Smithsonian Institution ABSTRACT The test wall of Haulol1hragruoitles ennltriensis is selec­ tively constructed of s moothly fini s hed. tig htly packed Ciuartz with subordina te felds pa rs in a calcium carbonate· free organic cem ent w h ich can va.ry in its sodium hypo­ chlorite solubility and wh ich contains im portant amounts of ferric iron in individua ls which a re colored reddish­ brown or white 01' both. The animal is probably not in­ volved in a meta.bolic secl'e lion of iron oxides in the usual sense. A m odel for test (orma lion is offered to eXl>lain the obse rved data, INTRODUCTION Because of the difficulties inherent in studying their tests, the arenaceous Foraminifera have been largely ignored in comparison to their calcareous counterparts. In recent years only the work of Hedley on the arenaceous wall is notable from the point of view of wall structure and biochemistry. In the present study the species Haplaphragm oides callariellsis was chosen because it is commo n, it is the type species of the genus, and it is an important representative of the family Lituolidae. The species therefore is an ideal member of the arenaceous Fo­ raminifera for the purpose of examining the micro­ structure of the arenaceous test, the nature of the TEXT F IGURE 1 cementing material, and the relationship of the min­ erai grains to the cementing materia l. The methods Drawin g of a mature individua l of Haplaphrag­ m oides cal/ ariellsis from Port William , Falkland here used are X-ray diffraction, electron microscopy Isla nds. ( X 75). and chemical staining techniques. Representative specimens from widely scattered geographical loca l­ of many arenaceous Foraminifera. Other individu­ ities were selected from the collections at the U. S. als are completely white in color. National Museum. It is well known that in the reddish-brown por­ RESULTS tions of the test of this and other arenaceous species Text fi g. 1 is a drawing of a representative indi­ cement is minerali zed with an in orga nic ferruginous vidual of H . cal/ariel/ sis. The test is planispira l, deposit. X-ray diffraction patterns of both the red­ partially involute, with simple chambers a nd a dish-brown and completely white tests show that the single wall. The arenaceous wall is smoothly fin­ only crystalline components present in all of the ished, the mineral grains varying in size from coarse specimens ana lyzed are quartz a nd feldspar. The (> 201t) to fine «lit), set in a cement which is feldspar is identified from the Debye-Scherrer X­ subordinate. The true amount of cement is recog­ ray data as an intermediate plagioclase (oli goclase­ nized only after very careful observation at high andesine?) which is qua ntitatively subordinate to magnification (-IOOX ). C ursory observation at the quartz. There is no iron or calcium carbonate low magnification gives the fa lse impression that either as cementing material or as arenaceous com­ the very fine-grained areas are true cement. All ponents. The ferruginous materia l occurring in the specimens of H. cal/ariellsis examined derive their cement is prese nt as an extremely fin e-grained, X­ ove rall color from the cement. In the average in­ ray amorphous constituent. That the ferric iro n is d ividualthe reddish-brown color is clearly restricted present in the reddish-brown tests as a very fine, to the cement and decreases in intensity towards the a morphous oxide is supported by the fact that it is later formed chambers. The last formed chamIJer is chelated and removed by disodium E DTA (pH 4.6 ) often completely white, which C ushman (1950) after a 24-hour treatment. The 24-hour chelation and others observed was a common characteristic of the iron from H . cal/ariel/ sis is rapid when com- 148 TOWE- WALL OF II i-\ PLOPHRAGl\[OIDES CANARLENSIS pared with other iron oxides. Such rapid chelation Hedley ( 1963) further reported that the color of was achieved experimentall y only with very fine the test was not a reliable indicator of its iron con­ colloidal hydrated iron oxides and then onl y if the tent , as in the twelve species he studied both pure material was well dispersed. Hedley ( 1963) was white and reddish-brown forms contained similar able to sequester the iron in other ferrugi nous Fo­ amoun ts of iron. T his feature of the arenaceous raminifera afte r five to seven days in EDTA at pH wall was confirmed in H . callariellsis by means of 8. Such extended treatment of H . callariellsis at pH tbe acidified potassium ferrocyanide staining test on 11 failed to remove all of the iron; further proof specimens from various localities (table 1) . All that it is not a carbonate. Concomitant with the specimens reacted positi vely for ferric iron, al­ loss of iron, and as reported by Hedley (1963), the though the intensit y of blue colorati on was variable. test loses stre ngth and becomes soft and fl exible. A buffe red 0.25 % ortbopbenanthroline test for In the electron microscope, replicas of the sur­ fe rrous iron was performed on selected specimens; face of H. callariellsis show that the wall is con­ tbe results were negative or extremely weak at best. structed ( Pl ate 12) of grains of quartz and feldspar In addition to tbe fact that all specimens, regard­ with a degree of perfection of fit that ri va ls that of less of color, contain some iron, it can be furtber the stone mason's work . Almost all of the available concluded tbat most, if not all, of tbe iron is in space has bee n fill ed with grains of the appropriate the ferric state. size and shape and little cement is present. The ma­ jority of the arenaceous components are oriented so TABLE 1 that a fl at surface is exposed. Jagged or rough edges, Chemical reactions of Haplaphragm oides except those due to minor cleavage or fracture, are callariellSis from va rious localities rarel y seen on the surface. The result is the smooth­ l-'otassiul1l :Ferro- ly fini shed test characteristic of thi s species. Clorox cyanide An important feature of the wall construction is S lJecirn en Locality Test Color Kf'aetion Reaction the absence of such accessory minerals as zircon, Cape Ha tte ras. N.C. Lig ht ilmenite, rutile and the like, the presence of which (Alba tross. D2003) D ro wn N e gative B lue would show clearly on the replicas because of their P o rl Stanley, V e ry Light insolubility in the reagents used. Also noticeably Falkla nd Is la nds 'Vhite Pos iti ve B lue absent are micaceous minerals and detrital grains Clave l'i ng Is la nd. of biogenic origin . Diatom frustules, sponge spic­ Green la nd R ed-B I'o wn Neg a tive B lu e ules, coccoliths or broken shell fragments, when Port William. rarely seen, are secondary post-mortem attachments F a lk la nd I sla nds R ed-Brown Negative B lue to the surface rather than an integral part of the C ul [ of 1\[exico "" hile P os itive B lue test construction. H. callariellsis is thus selective in M a nS- I'ove Swamp, P ositive & its choice of arenaceous materials. Trin ida d. B .W.I. R ed-Brown N egative B lue In the electron microscope the extremely fine­ S ha nnon Is land . P os itive & Blue. .,< grained, amorphous aspect of the iron oxide-organic N . J~. G reenland ~ R c d ·B l' o wn N egative L ight-Blue cement is apparent (Plate 13 ). T he iron oxides ap­ pear as small , globular particles that are generall y Control studies on various colloidal bydrated iron restricted to the intersti tial areas. T hese particles oxides, including goethite and bemati te, indicate average less than a thousa nd Angstrom units tbat witb varying lengtbs of time all give a positive ( O.1~L ) in size, we ll wi thin the colloidal range. Prussian blue reaction for ferric iron. In fact it was T he organic portion of the cement appears to observed, as migbt be expected, tbat tbe fi ner tbe exist in several di ffe rent states, as indicated by the particle size and tbe poorer tbe crystallinity, tbe quasi-histochemical treatment of the tests with a more rapid the formati on of Prussian blue.