Recent Foraminiferal genus Quinqueloculina from Socotra Island and Hadhramout coastlines, Yemen

Abstract

For the purpose of etablishing a database on benthic foraminifera in Yemen, two hundred and twelve recent benthic foraminifera species have been recorded from 32 sandy samples collected from different localities in Socotra Island during January 2017 and Hadhramout coastline, Yemen during August 2018 from a depth of 0 - 4 m, to identify benthic foraminiferal taxa to the species level. These samples were processed to extract the foraminiferal tests using a water saline brine based on the difference between the density of the shells and the solution. The extracted benthic foraminifera were separated according to the type of wall into three groups; the Agglutinated, Porcellaneous and hyaline walled foraminifera. Porcellaneous tests represent the largest number in the collected samples of the two study areas. One hundred and four species were identified. These species belonging to twenty-eight genera, four superfamilies and eight families. Twenty-nine species of these belong to the genus Quinqueloculina d’Orbigny which are discussed here and illustrated. The systematic classification of the species recorded from these samples was mentioned and compared with the type species. The previous recordings of these species, their geographical distribution regionally and globally, and their abundance in the study samples were tracked. The samples were deposited at the Department of Earth Sciences, Faculty of Petroleum and Natural Resources, Sana’a University.