Acknowledgments

The first hint on benthic foraminifera living within the anoxic diatomaceous muds off Namibia came from Dr. U. Struck (Leibniz-Museum für Naturkunde, Berlin). Thanks are due, as always, to the professional captains and crews of the research-vessel Meteor for perfect support and co-operation. We acknowledge the valuable ships' time offered by the chief scientists Volker Brüchert/Bremen and Kay-Christian Emeis/Hamburg for the ROV cruises from onboard RV Meteor and RV Alexander von Humboldt. Two anonymous reviewers considerably improved the quality of the manuscript, and M. Krings refined our abilities to write in English. We also thank J. Bernhard, P. DeDeckker, K.-C. Emeis, D.K. Kristensen, J. Lipps, and C. Schröder-Adams for discussions about the DMB, virgulinellids, and suggestions on earlier drafts of the manuscript. The Bavarian State Collection for Palaeontology and Geology granted access to the holotype of Loxostomum chalkophilum Hagn (BSPG Prot. 1952-8). Funding by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (Al 331/7 and Al 331/14) is gratefully acknowledged.