Jenkins, D.G. 1971. New Zealand Cenozoic planktonic foraminifera. New Zealand Geological Survey Paleontological Bulletin 42: 1-278.

185993

Publication

From a study of the type and standard sections of 27 New Zealand stages and 22 other selected New Zealand Cenozoic stratigraphic sections, 163 species and subspecies of planktonic Foraminifera are recorded and illustrated. A new subgenus,Testacarinata, is described from the Eocene. Forty species first described from New Zealand are redescribed. All the taxa are discussed and records given of their stratigraphic occurrences in the examined sections, with further comments on their world stratigraphic ranges. Topotypes from overseas were obtained whenever possible in order to standardise specific identifications. Comparison is made of the New Zealand faunas with other world records, including the faunas obtained from the following European stages: Danian, Aquitanian, Burdigalian, Plaisancian, and Calabrian. It is postulated from the lack or comparative rarity of some species previously recorded from the Cenozoic tropic belt that New Zealand faunas were not tropical assemblages, although there were brief invasions of tropical species; the faunas indicate a gradual cooling of the seas in the Upper Cenozoic leading up to the major cooling at the beginning of the Pleistocene. The 21 New Zealand Cenozoic planktonic foraminiferal zones are correlated with the European stages and Trinidad planktonic foraminiferal zones. It has been found that most of the European and Trinidad stratigraphic boundaries cannot be accurately identified in New Zealand because of dissimilar regional faunas (auth)

Foraminifera

[Back to search]