DISTRIBUTION AND TAXONOMY OF MODERN BENTHIC FORAMINIFERA OF THE SUNDA SHELF (SOUTH CHINA SEA) OFF PENINSULAR MALAYSIA

The distribution and taxonomy of benthic foraminifera on the western Sunda Shelf (southern South China Sea) are poorly known. In June 2014, surface sediment (0-1 cm) was collected using a grab sampler from two parallel shore-normal transects offshore of Kuala Terengganu, peninsular Malaysia. Each transect (ca. 45 km in length and ranging from 5 to 60 m water depth) was composed of eight stations with three replicate samples at each station. At least 300 foraminiferal specimens were picked from the 150-1000 μm size fraction of each replicate sample and ca. 130 species were identified. Numerical analysis of dead (unstained) foraminifera shows three groups of samples that are related to depth and substrate. The shore proximal group (ca. 5-30 m, shelly sand substrate) is dominated by Amphistegina lessonii (19%) and Amphistegina radiata (17%), the shore intermediate group (30-50 m, sandy mud substrate) is dominated by Assilina ammonoides (11%), Heterolepa dutemplei (10%), and Asterorotalia milletti (9%), and the shore distal group (50-60 m, muddy substrate) is dominated by A. milletti (16%), H. dutemplei (16%), Elphidium advenum (9%), Hanzawaia nipponica (7%), and Textularia sp. (7%). Species diversity (S) and abundance of living (stained) foraminifera show little variation throughout each transect – the former is ca. 35 per sample and the latter never exceeds 10 % of a sample. In June 2015, an additional surface sample (three replicates per sample) for each transect was collected 92 kilometers offshore at a depth of 60 m. This study provides modern analogues for interpretation of paleoenvironmental changes in the Holocene sedimentary record of the western Sunda Shelf.