Eilohedra vitrea
Eilohedra vitrea
Common name
Foraminifer
Fossil group
Foraminifera
Order
Rotaliida
Genus
Eilohedra
Taxonomic status
Accepted
Geological age
Ypresian
Summary
Eilohedra vitrea was a small benthic foraminifer with a delicate hyaline calcitic test. It formed part of the microscopic London Clay benthos and used pseudopodia to collect bacteria and organic particles from the sediment-water interface or shallow sediment.
The organism itself was a single cell, but the fossil is its microscopic test. In the 2026 Hampshire Basin study this taxon occurs within the London Clay Formation assemblage used to construct the first foraminiferal zonation of the formation.
Quick Identification
Look for: a very small, smooth, glassy-looking trochospiral test with inflated chambers and a rounded outline.
Diagnostic Features
- Test very small and trochospiral.
- Chambers are inflated, giving the test a rounded outline.
- Wall is smooth, hyaline and finely perforate.
- Sutures are depressed and clearly separate the inflated chambers.
- Apertural area lies on the umbilical/interiomarginal side of the final chamber.
Fossil Details
Typical size
Microscopic; generally sub-millimetric.
Fossil material
Foraminiferal Test
Preservation
London Clay foraminiferal tests may be etched, crushed, stained or filled with matrix, and the 2026 study notes poorer preservation in parts of the succession. Fine apertural and sutural characters can disappear with corrosion; incomplete tests should be left at genus or higher rank.
Similar Species
Recorded Fossil Sites
No fossil-site occurrences have yet been recorded for this species.
References
- Hart, M. B.; Alex-Sanders, M. E. A.; Smart, C. W. (2026). Can the distribution of foraminifera locate the Early Eocene Climatic Optimum (EECO) and Middle Eocene Climatic Optimum (MECO) events in the Eocene succession of the Isle of Wight (UK)?. Journal of Micropalaeontology, 45(1), 315–334 View reference
Last Reviewed
20 August 2026
Reviewed by
Sam Harris