The Foraminiferal Family Pfenderinidae in the Jurassic of Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Investigation of well-preserved materials from Saudi Arabia shows that the interior labyrinthine passages in the family Pfenderinidae Smout and Sugden, 1962, fall outside of rather than inside of the chamber cavities. The secondary infilling of the labyrinthine passages during the life of the individual, noted by Smout and Sugden as occurring among some members of the Pfenderinidae, is coupled with secondary deposition of shell material within the chamber cavities, and the presence or absence of these joint effects is taken as the basis for recognition of two new subfamilies, the Pfenderininae and the Kurnubiinae. The formation of subcameral tunnels is discussed, and four new genera and ten new species of the Pfenderinidae are described from the Jurassic of Saudi Arabia.