The Planorbulinacea are a superfamily of
rotalliid foraminifera
Foraminifera (; Latin for "hole bearers"; informally called "forams") are single-celled organisms, members of a phylum or class of amoeboid protists characterized by streaming granular ectoplasm for catching food and other uses; and commonly ...
that has been extant since the Early Cretaceous (
Berriasian
In the geological timescale, the Berriasian is an age/ stage of the Early/Lower Cretaceous. It is the oldest subdivision in the entire Cretaceous. It has been taken to span the time between 145.0 ± 4.0 Ma and 139.8 ± 3.0 Ma (million years a ...
), characterized by trochospiral tests, at least in early stage but which later may become uncoiled. The test wall is of perforate hyaline calcite, commonly optically radial in structure, with crystallographic c-axes perpendicular to the surface. The apertural face may be imperforate; the aperture interiomarginal and extraumbilical-umbilical to nearly equatorial in coiled forms, subterminal in uncoiled forms.
The Planorbulinacea unite six families which are distinguished primarily by their morphological differences.
References
*
Planorublinacea Loeblich &
Tappan, 1988.
*
{{Taxonbar, from=Q7201437
Foraminifera superfamilies
Rotaliida