ILLUSTRATION OF MODERN BENTHIC FORAMINIFERA FROM BERMUDA AND REMARKS ON DISTRIBUTION IN OTHER SUBTROPICAL/TROPICAL AREAS

ABSTRACT

A scanning light microscope (SLM) is used to illustrate recent benthic foraminiferal species from surface sediment samples collected in Bermuda subtropical environments. Species illustrated here are the main foraminiferal species found in Bermuda lagoons, reefs, caves, mangroves, and ponds, but also occur in most subtropical and tropical areas. The SLM permits photography of specimens without coating and gives pictures most similar to specimens that micropaleontologists see under a dissecting reflected light microscope in a petri dish with water, in contrast to images made with scanning electron microscopes. These pictures are the first SLM illustrations of subtropical/tropical species of benthic foraminifera and will be very useful for their identification. Bermuda recent sediment hosts a benthic foraminifera fauna as diverse as in other subtropical and tropical areas, and the general trends of foraminiferal distribution and morphology are similar. Remarks on foraminiferal distribution in Bermuda and other subtropical/tropical areas are also presented.

Emmanuelle J. Javaux. Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, 26, Oxford St., Cambridge MA 02138, U.S.A.
David B. Scott. Department of Earth Sciences, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, B3H 3J5, Canada

KEY WORDS: Bermuda, benthic foraminifera, scanning light photography, distribution, Holocene