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Reprinted from CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE CUSHMAN FOUNDATION FOR FORAMINIFERAL RESEARCH Volume III, Parts 3 and 4, October, 1952

69. NODOSARIA NOMENCLATURE

R. M. STAINFORTH
Talara, Peru

Mr. N. de B. Hornibrook has kindly drawn my attention to, and provided a copy of, a 1947 paper by the late H. J. Finlay[1] which should have been cited in my own recent paper in this journal[2] on the classification of uniserial calcareous foraminifera. Unfortunately I was not aware of Finlay’s publication and must make up for the omission by the following notes.

Finlay strongly urges the suppression of Ellipsonodosaria as a synonym of Nodosarella. He cites Martinotti to the effect that the early chambers of Nodosarella may be biserial in the microspheric form. (Stainforth, 1952, preferred to regard Nodosarella as strictly uniserial and to use Ellipsoidella for the initially biserial forms, but recognized the difficulty of separating marginal species).

Finlay recognizes the synonymy of Siphonodosaria and Nodogenerina but draws attention to an awkward taxonomic point. Siphonodosaria Silvestri, 1924 was proposed as a genus with no designated species and ought to be considered a nude name until it was validated by Cushman, who referred Nodosaria abyssorum Brady to this genus in March 1927. Meanwhile Nodogenerina Cushman had been proposed, with N. bradyi as genotype, in January 1927. It can be argued from these facts that Nodogenerina has prior validity over Siphonodosaria. Finlay leaves this question open and goes on to claim that Stilostomella Guppy, 1894[3] is congeneric with Siphonodosaria and Nodogenerina and has priority over both of them. (Stainforth, 1952, considered that Siphonodosaria was the valid name by priority of publication. He overlooked Stilostomella but here states the opinion that Finlay appears to be correct. Guppy’s description and figures of Stilostomella rugosa match only one well‑known species‑group in the Eo‑Oligocene of Trinidad: unless his types can be located it appears impossible to identify the exact species, but S. rugosa falls in the plexus of “Ellipsonodosariacurvatura Cushman, “E.” subspinosa Cushman, “E.” recta Palmer and Bermudez, etc.).

Finlay’s views are expressed above in a highly compressed form. His paper should be read in full by anyone concerned with these taxonomic matters.

This opportunity is taken to mention that J. J. Galloway[4] should be cited among others who have noted synonymy of nodosarian genera.



[1] H. J. Finlay, N. Z. Jour. Sci. Tech., vol. 28. no. 5 (sec. B), pp. 272‑276, etc. Wellington, 1947.

[2] R. M. Stainforth, Cushman Found. Foram. Res., Contr., vol. 3, pp. 6‑14.1952.

[3] R. J. L. Guppy, Zool. Soc. London, Proc., p. 649. London, 1894.

[4] J. J. Galloway, Manual of Foraminifera, pp. 247, 376, 383, 384, etc. Bloomington, Ind. 1933.