Five new species and one new genus of recent miliolid foraminifera from Raja Ampat (West Papua, Indonesia)

Meena Förderer, Martin R. Langer
2016 PeerJ  
Raja Ampat is an archipelago of about 1,500 small islands located northwest off the Bird's Head Peninsula of Indonesia's West Papua province. It is part of the Coral Triangle, a region recognized as the "epicenter" of tropical marine biodiversity. In the course of a large-scale survey on shallow benthic foraminifera we have discovered one new genus and five new species of recent miliolid benthic foraminifera from the highly diverse reefal and nearshore environments. The new fischerinid
more » ... oplanispirinellais characterized by its planispiral coiling and by the presence of a simple tooth, that differentiate it fromPlanispirinellaWiesner. It is represented in our sample material by the new speciesDentoplanispirinella occulta. The other four species described herein areMiliolinella moia, Miliolinella undina, Triloculina kaweaandSiphonaperta hallocki.All new species are comparatively rare and occur sporadically in the sample material. Detailed morphological descriptions, scanning electron microscopy pictures of complete and dissected specimens as well as micro-computed tomography images are provided.
doi:10.7717/peerj.2157 pmid:27366652 pmcid:PMC4924127 fatcat:gvnepjcdanc6fckt6hsissryxa