The foraminifer on the far left shows the general test
(outer hard shell) geometry of an involute planispiral foraminifera while
the second shows the lateral view of a trocospiral involute foram morphology.
The last sketch shows a simple cross-section of a foraminifera showing
multiple growth chambers and the foramen (openings) joining the chambers.
Compiled from renderings in Lipps, J.H. Fossil
Prokaryotes and Protists and Reiss, Z.
and Hottinger, L. The Gulf of Aqaba: Ecological Micropaleontology.
The most distinctive and best classified of these morphologies is that of the exterior of the foraminifera in the form of its test and its Rhizopodia cytoplasm extending from the test. Return home to the table of contents to learn more about Foram morphology.
