The Schwagerinidae comprise a family of large, generally fusiform, foraminiferans included in the
Fusulinacea
The Fusulinacea is a superfamily in the Fusulinida in which the test is spherical, discoida, or fusiform; commonly coiled, less often uncoiling in the late stage, numerous chambers per whorl; test wall of microgranular calcite (as for the order) i ...
, a superfamily of
fusulinids
The Fusulinida is an extinct order within the Foraminifera in which the tests are traditionally considered to have been composed of microgranular calcite. Like all forams, they were single-celled organisms. In advanced forms the test wall was di ...
, locally abundant during the later Carboniferous (
Pennsylvanian Pennsylvanian may refer to:
* A person or thing from Pennsylvania
* Pennsylvanian (geology)
The Pennsylvanian ( , also known as Upper Carboniferous or Late Carboniferous) is, in the International Commission on Stratigraphy, ICS geologic timesca ...
) and most of the
Permian
The Permian ( ) is a geologic period and stratigraphic system which spans 47 million years from the end of the Carboniferous Period million years ago (Mya), to the beginning of the Triassic Period 251.9 Mya. It is the last period of the Pale ...
.
M.L. Thompson (1964) gives the following diagnosis: Shell large, fusiform to irregularly cylindrical, planispiral, involute in most, irregularly uncoiled in some; spirotheca thick, composed of tectum and alveolar kariotheca; septa fluted in end zones of primitive genera, fluted completely across shell and to tops of chambers of more advanced genera; tummel singular in most forms, multiple in one genus; axial fillings absent to massive; chomata massive to slight.
As with all fusulinaceans, the Schagerinidae are a shallow water form which in places make up a significant portion of the sediment, now limestone. More familiar genera include ''
Schwagerina'', ''Triticites'', and ''
Parafusulina''.
References
*
{{Taxonbar, from=Q7433136
Fusulinida
Foraminifera families
Prehistoric SAR supergroup families