Foraminiferan.
/fəˌramᵻˈnɪf(ə)rə/, /ˌfɒrəmᵻˈnɪf(ə)rə/, U.S. /fəˌræməˈnɪf(ə)rə/ Zoology and Palaeontology.
With plural agreement. A phylum (or class) of amoeboid marine protozoa, characterized by reticulating pseudopodia and a minute perforated shell (test) comprising one or more chambers; (also in form foraminifera) organisms of this phylum (collectively or individually).Originally regarded as cephalopod molluscs and later as an order of the phylum Rhizopoda, the foraminifera are now sometimes treated as a class of the phylum Granuloreticulosa. Their shells can accumulate to form thick calcareous deposits on the ocean floor that often fossilize and may form the basis of chalk or limestone (cf. Globigerina n., nummulite n. 1).
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the world > animals > invertebrates > protozoa > class Sarcodina > order Rhizopoda > [noun] > suborder Foraminifera
Foraminifera1834
1834 E. Griffith et al. Cuvier's Animal Kingdom XII. 17 M. D'Orbigny..forms them into an order which he calls Foraminifera, on account of the only communication between cells being by means of holes.
1853 Jrnl. Bombay Branch Royal Asiatic Soc. 4 442 The rhizopodous nature of Foraminifera is identical with that of the Amœba or Proteus.
1882 A. Geikie Text-bk. Geol. vi. iv. §1. 838 In some places it [sc. nummulitic limestone] is composed mainly of foraminifera.
1922 T. M. Lowry Inorg. Chem. xxxiii. 629 Chalk and mountain limestone were originally produced by the minute marine organisms known as foraminifera.
1961 J. Stubblefield Davies's Introd. Palaeontol. (ed. 3) x. 233 The Foraminifera..were at one time taken for cephalopods, but the resemblance in the shells of the two groups is only homoeomorphy of the most general sort.
2004 R. Dawkins Ancestor's Tale 145 The deep sea Foraminifera (protozoa in tiny shells which fossilise in enormous numbers and are therefore much used by geologists as indicator species).
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, November 2010; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
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