Uvigerina agglutinata n.sp. a new Holocene benthic foraminifer with an outer agglutinated layer from the central Red Sea

Abstract

This paper describes a new deep-sea foraminifer which has possibly evolved a way to use sediment particles from its surroundings to increase its density. The benthic foraminifer recovered from Red Sea planktonic ooze shares some similarities with two well-established Uvigerina species Uvigerina auberiana d'Orbigny, 1826 and the extinct Uvigerina auberiana var. attenuata Cushman & Renz, 1941. However, it differs from the two species mainly by the incorporation of sediment grains into its external wall. Uvigerina agglutinata n.sp. is characterized by its initially triserial coiling, which changes to biserial in the middle part and eventually becomes uniserial in final whorl. The most diagnostic feature of this species is the incorporation of different shapes and sizes of detrital calcium carbonate grains into its outer wall.