Saracenaria midwayensis Kline, 1943

Bergh, Eugene W. & Compton, John S., 2022, Taxonomy of Middle Miocene foraminifera from the northern Namibian continental shelf, Zootaxa 5091 (1), pp. 1-55 : 17

Saracenaria midwayensis Kline, 1943

Pl. 3, figs. 1–2

Kline, 1943, p. 30, pl. 3, figs. 3a–c.

Description: The test wall is calcareous, smooth and finely perforate. The test is planispiral, becoming rectilinear. The test is triangular in section, with a rounded outline. The apertural face is triangular and broad. There are approximately 4 to 5 visible chambers along the length of the test. The aperture is radiate at the dorsal angle of the final chamber.

Remarks: Specimens of this species are relatively large, ranging between 0.5 and 1 mm in width and between 1 and 2 mm in length. The relative abundance is low, forming trace components (<1%) in some of the samples in core 2670.

The test is more rounded and broader, relative to its length and compared to Saracenaria italica , with a curved initial end. The terminal chamber is also more inflated and broader, covering more of the length of the test compared to S. italica .

Life strategy: Saracenaria spp. have been reported to be epifaunal ( Barbieri & Panieri, 2004) under suboxic conditions ( Gebhardt, 1999).

Regional occurrence: This is the first documentation of this species in middle Miocene strata in the region; occurring on the Namibian outer continental shelf, south of the Kunene River mouth.