Foraminifera

Systematic Paleontology

Kingdom: Protista

Subkingdom: Sarcodina

Phylum: Reticularea

Subphylum: Granuloreticulosa

Class: Foraminifera

Formaninifera (forams for short)  are micro-organisms use extensively in age dating and correlation of marine and brackish-water sediments, and in determining paleo-ecology.

Forams produce shells, known as tests, that vary in form, composition, and internal complexity. They undergo an alternation of sexual and asexual phases in their life cycles with larger microspheric and smaller megalospheric forms. Terms microspheric and megalospheric refer to the relative size of the proloculus, the initial chamber, not the size of the test itself.

Foraminifera have been ranked taxonomically as an Order, Foraminiferida, as a Class and as a Phylum, Foraminifera. Putting it simply, they are protists, single celled organisms that are neither plants nor animals, included in the Reticularia and more specifically in the Granuloreticulosa.