Predation on benthic foraminifers

The foraminifer Rosulina globularis d'Orbigny from and laboratory populations is occasionally upon by free-living, marine nematodes. Borings 3.7 to 14.3 in diameter in the tests of living and dead of R. globularis and dead specimens of Eolivina Cushman and Wickenden from the same and laboratory populations are attributed to the nematodes. Predation in the laboratory populations greater than in the natural populations, among juvenile specimens of R. globuluris. in R. globuluris occur characteristically in the whorl, whereas, those in B. doniezi are generally to the apertural half of the test. This preference the area of wall penetration is thought to correspond the accessibility or living position of the prey. However, incomplete borings coincide with test pores, thus represent test penetration in an area of least . borings occur in Holocene and Cretaceous and neritic foraminifers. Another kind of borings these specimens, while in part resembling gastropod , may likewise be due to soft-bodied organisms. of predation provides ecologic and paleoecologic on the living habits, habitat, and structure of the foraminiferal prey, and can influence the interpretation of foraminiferal production rates of sedimentation based on foraminiferal .