Ammonia, Foraminifera

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Uvigerina peregrina, Campos, Brazil, Foraminifera

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Ammonia Brünnich, 1772
Type species: Nautilus beccarii Linné, 1758
After discusssing the pro and cons of DNA-based classification with scientists as Prof. Bruce Hayward and Dr. Magali Schweizer the following reasoning is seen as outdated (July 2011). Please go to Ammonia

Description: test low trochospiral, biconvex, spiral side evolute, umbilical side involute, periphery rounded to carinate, wall calcareous; aperture an interiomarginal extraumbilical arch
William R. Walton, and Benjamin J. Sloan, 1990: The genus Ammonia Bruennich, 1772 its geographic distribution and morphologic variability in The Journal of Foraminiferal Research; April 1990; v. 20; no. 2; p. 128-156, 1990 propose a limitation in classification to three morphotypes for Ammonia all assigned to A. beccarii. They argue, that before establishing new species ecophenotypic variations should be considered. All established species such as A. batavus, Hofker, A. inflata, (Seguenza), A. japonica, (Hada) are disregarded as valid. Hayward and others 2004 have revised the classification of Ammonia based on genetical sequencing and have identified 13 variants, estimating a total of 25-30 worldwide.
A personal note: Though technically interesting the genetical approach of Hayward and others 2004 lacks a comprehensive basis. The establishment of variants is mainly derived from statistical methods based on arbitrarily set parameters. Neither the ability to breed successfully is used a criteria to establish species nor genetical variation is dealt with as a conceptual problem. The naming of Ammonias as T1, T5Z, T13 and so on indicates, that Hayward and others 2004 are stuck in their technical approach. A simple shift of their arbritarily set parameters would leed to the establishment of thousands of variants.

A. beccarii (Linné, 1758) forma beccarii is characterized by beading, fluting and furrowing along the sutures on the ventral or dorsal sides. It is the largest (up to 1mm), has up to 13 chambers in the last whorl and is heavily calcareous.	A. beccarii (Linné, 1758) forma parkinsoniana is characterized by one or several umbilical plugs on the ventral side. Between forma parkinsoniana and tepida a complete gradation between the end members may be found.	A. beccarii (Linné, 1758) forma tepida is characterized by lacking umbilical plugs and beading, fluting or furrowing on either side.

Torrente Stirone, Italy; Pleistocene ventral side	Al Qusair, Red Sea, Egypt ventral side	central Adriatic coast, Italy ventral side

Distribution: Late Miocene to recent, cosmopolitan, where water temperature reaches 17°C at least one month, in the Atlantic reaching from 62°N till 55°S, in the Pacific from 48°N till 33°S. Ammonia is abundant or dominant especially in mid-latitudes. Forma beccarii is found in the Mediterranean, along the west coast of Europe and the east coast of North America from Florida till Nova Scotia, Red Sea and Indian Ocean. All forms can occur together or independently.
Life style: worldwide widespread in marginal marine environments (lagoons, estuaries, fjords and deltas), lives infaunal, free, herbivore, at depth of 0-50m, common in sediments with mud and organ carbon. Tolerates salinities of up to 50‰, low oxygen for several days and low and high temperatures (0°C-35°C), (Murray, 2006). Ammonia lives as deep as 35cm in the sediment, in the southern North sea with a peak at 5cm. Under low oxygenation the area covered by pores is significantly higher than in well oxygenated sediments and waters. The pores are formed in situ.
Literature: William R. Walton, and Benjamin J. Sloan, 1990: The genus Ammonia Bruennich, 1772 its geographic distribution and morphologic variability in The Journal of Foraminiferal Research; April 1990; v. 20; no. 2; p. 128-156 ...
Hayward, B. W., Holzmann, M., Grenfell, H. R., Pawlowski, J., and Triggs, C. M., 2004: Morphological distinction of molecular types in Ammonia, towards a taxonomic revision of the worlds most commonly misidentified foraminifera: Marine Micropaleontology, v. 50, p. 237 to 271.
Murray, John W., 2006: Ecology and Applications of Benthic Foraminifera, Cambridge University Press
Polovodova, Irina and Schönfeld, Joachim 2008: Foraminiferal test abnormalities in the western Baltic Sea in Journal of Foraminiferal Research, v. 38 (4), p. 318 to 336.

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Eastern Atlantic

A. beccarii (Linné, 1758) forma beccarii Amrum, North Sea, Germany	A. beccarii (Linné, 1758) forma beccarii Blaavand, North Sea, Denmark	A. beccarii (Linné, 1758) forma beccarii Blaavand, North Sea, Denmark

A. beccarii (Linné, 1758) forma beccarii Blaavand, North Sea, Denmark	A. beccarii (Linné, 1758) forma beccarii Blaavand, North Sea, Denmark

Baltic
Normal and abnormal specimens, classified by Polovodova and others 2008 not according to William R. Walton, and Benjamin J. Sloan, 1990: The genus Ammonia Bruennich, 1772 its geographic distribution and morphologic variability in The Journal of Foraminiferal Research; April 1990; v. 20; no. 2; p. 128-156 1990

A. beccarii (Linné, 1758) Flensburg Fjord	A. beccarii (Linné, 1758) Flensburg Fjord	A. beccarii (Linné, 1758) abnormal specimen Flensburg Fjord

A. beccarii (Linné, 1758) Kiel Fjord Overview normal-abnormal	A. beccarii (Linné, 1758) Kiel Fjord	A. beccarii (Linné, 1758) Kiel Fjord

A. beccarii (Linné, 1758) Kiel Fjord	A. beccarii (Linné, 1758) Kiel Fjord abnormal specimen	A. beccarii (Linné, 1758) Kiel Fjord abnormal specimen

Ammonia beccarii (Linné, 1758) Kiel Fjord abnormal specimen	Ammonia beccarii (Linné, 1758) Kiel Fjord abnormal specimen	Ammonia beccarii (Linné, 1758) Kiel Fjord abnormal specimen

Ammonia beccarii (Linné, 1758) Kiel Fjord abnormal specimen	A. sp., Kiel Fjord, Baltic Sea, Germany	A. sp., Kiel Fjord, Baltic Sea, Germany

Mediterranean
classified partly by Frontalini, F. and Coccioni, C. not according to William R. Walton, and Benjamin J. Sloan, 1990: The genus Ammonia Bruennich, 1772 its geographic distribution and morphologic variability in The Journal of Foraminiferal Research; April 1990; v. 20; no. 2; p. 128-156 1990

	A. beccarii (Linné, 1758) forma beccarii Malia, Crete, Greece

A. beccarii (Linné, 1758) forma beccarii Orosei, Sardinia/Italy	A. beccarii (Linné, 1758) forma beccarii Orosei, Sardinia/Italy	A. beccarii (Linné, 1758) forma beccarii Orosei, Sardinia/Italy

A. parkinsoniana, central Adriatic/Italy	A. parkinsoniana, central Adriatic/Italy	A. tepida, central Adriatic/Italy

A. tepida, central Adriatic coast/Italy	A. tepida, central Adriatic coast/Italy	A. tepida, central Adriatic coast/Italy

A. sp., Trapani, Sicily, Italy	A. sp., Trapani, Sicily, Italy

Indian Ocean (including Arabian Sea, Red Sea)

A. beccarii (Linné, 1758) forma beccarii Al-Qusair, Egypt, Red Sea	A. beccarii (Linné, 1758) forma beccarii Al-Qusair, Egypt, Red Sea	A. beccarii (Linné, 1758) forma beccarii Al-Qusair, Egypt, Red Sea

A. beccarii (Linné, 1758) forma parkinsoniana Al-Qusair, Egypt, Red Sea	A. beccarii (Linné, 1758) forma parkinsoniana Al-Qusair, Egypt, Red Sea

A. beccarii (Linné, 1758) forma beccarii Cherai, India	A. beccarii (Linné, 1758) forma beccarii Cherai, India	A. beccarii (Linné, 1758) forma beccarii Cherai, India

	A. beccarii (Linné, 1758) forma beccarii Cherai, India

Western Pacific

A. beccarii (Linné, 1758) forma tepida Osaka Bay, Japan	A. beccarii (Linné, 1758) forma tepida Osaka Bay, Japan

A. beccarii (Linné, 1758) forma parkinsoniana Ko Phangan, Thailand	A. beccarii (Linné, 1758) forma parkinsoniana Ko Phangan, Thailand	A. beccarii (Linné, 1758) forma parkinsoniana Ko Phangan, Thailand

Southern Ocean

A. sp. Kemp, Queensland, Australia	A. sp. Kemp, Queensland, Australia

Neogene

A. beccarii, Ort, Austria	A. beccarii, Torrente Stirone	A. beccarii, Torrente Stirone

	A. beccarii (Linné, 1758) forma parkinsoniana Torrente Stirone, Italy

recent Quaternary/Neogene Paleogene Cretaceous Jurassic Triassic Permian Carboniferous

Ammonia Brünnich, 1772 Type species: Nautilus beccarii Linné, 1758 After discusssing the pro and cons of DNA-based classification with scientists as Prof. Bruce Hayward and Dr. Magali Schweizer the following reasoning is seen as outdated (July 2011). Please go to Ammonia

Ammonia Brünnich, 1772
Type species: Nautilus beccarii Linné, 1758
After discusssing the pro and cons of DNA-based classification with scientists as Prof. Bruce Hayward and Dr. Magali Schweizer the following reasoning is seen as outdated (July 2011). Please go to Ammonia