Taxonomic review of living planktonic foraminifera

Abstract

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.