SYSTEMATICS OF DEVONIAN FORAMANIFERA FROM NORTH-CENTRAL IOWA

The study of Devonian foramanifera in north-central Iowa began in the 1930s and 1940s, but this work has been essentially abandoned for the past several decades. The shells of foraminifera are generally multichambered and consist of calcium carbonate secreted on an organic template. Wall structure and chamber arrangement are among the most important taxonomic features. Bird Hill, located in Rockford County, was the center of much past research. The site consists primarily of shales from the Lime Creek Formation (Frasnian) and is located approximately four miles north of Rockford, Iowa. Samples from Bird Hill have yielded abundant specimens of Nanicella gallowayi. Samples from the age-equivalent Independence Shale at Brooks Quarry in Buchanan County have also been collected. This site is near the type locality of Pseudopalmula palmuloides, an enigmatic form that resembles certain Mesozoic and Cenozoic taxa. The goal of our research is to employ scanning electron microscopy and transmitted light microscopy to allow a better understanding of the morphology and systematic relationships of these poorly understood foraminifers, which are possibly ancestral to the much better known microfaunas of the Late Paleozoic.