WHAT SHOULD WE CALL THE FORAMINIFERA
Shelled granuloreticulose microorganisms have had a complex etymological history that began in 1826 when d'Orbigny gave his new order the name Foraminiferes and characterized the group. Soon afterwards, further examina- tion and proper Latinization established them as class Foraminifera. D'Orbigny should be credited with the suprafamilial group name, regardless of rank, because he provided defining characteristics, and also because higher taxa are not governed by ICZN rules; in addition, we should consider the history of its attribution and what is traditional and customary in zoological nomenclature. The name Foraminifera is the source of a variety of informal terms, including foraminifera, foraminifer, foraminiferan, and for- am. Long after being demoted to order, the Latinized name was modified to Foraminiferida in 1964 by Loeblich and Tappan, the informal foraminiferid was introduced later. Here, we briefly examine these terms as sets of singular and plural nouns, and their derived adjectives and nouns that begin with foram-. Authors can choose any of the derived terms, but they should be consistent by using only one term-set throughout their paper. Other nouns derived from forami- nifer-, such as foraminiferologist for a student of the group, are not usually part of a term-set. The informal term foram is a valid derivation and it is the most common of the names used in conversation among earth scientists and biologists. It is already accepted in major dictionaries and literature, and it has been used in specific word pairs found in scientific publications. In addition, foram eases communication by its multilingual applicability; it is also the easiest of the terms to pronounce, write, and read. For all these reasons, its use may increase in scientific literature.
Signature of the Gold Cove event (10.2 ka) in the Labrador Sea
Abstract One of the least known catastrophic meltwater and sediment-release events of the Laurentide ice-sheet during the early Holocene is the so-called Gold Cove proglacial lake outbursts, a drainage event through the Hudson Strait. This event may have disturbed circulation in the Labrador Sea by releasing freshwater. Here, we report data from four sediment cores and re-analysis of six published records spatially covering >2000 km from the mouth of Hudson Strait to the northeastern Sohm Abyssal Plain. Abundant detrital carbonate (DC) and less positive δ18O values in Neogloboquadrina pachyderma (sinistral) suggest a short-lived meltwater event in the Hudson Strait region. This discharge transported detrital-carbonate-rich sediment and shallow-water benthic forams southward along the Labrador margin, mixing with the North Atlantic Current near the Grand Banks. Sediments associated with this event were guided through the deep Labrador Sea from the mouth of Hudson Strait and the Northwest Atlantic Mid-Ocean Channel (NAMOC) to the Sohm Abyssal Plain. Furthermore, we report less positive δ13C values in the epibenthic foram Cibicidoides wuellerstorfi from the southern Labrador Sea during this event. Our twenty one 14C-AMS dates in addition to earlier published radiocarbon dates from the Labrador margin suggest that this DC event was coeval with the Gold Cove proglacial lake outbursts related to re-advance of the Laurentide ice-sheet.
Conception et suites de la Paléontologie française d'Alcide d'OrbignyConception and continuations of the d'Orbigny's Paléontologie française.
Abstract The whole formed by his Paleontologie francaise, his Prodrome, and his Cours elementaire, which are closely linked, constitutes one of the major parts of Alcide d’Orbigny’s scientific production, in which he exposed his concept of Palaeontology as a science closely related with Zoology and as an indispensable tool for Stratigraphy. The result was a remarkable impulsion for palaeontological and stratigraphical research, which from that time developed on new scientific foundations. Two annexes complete this communication, the first concerning the ‘Comite de la Paleontologie francaise’ (1860–1893), the second specifying the publication dates of four volumes of the Paleontologie francaise.