Clavulina anglica

Clavulina anglica

(Cushman, 1936)

Common name Foraminifer
Fossil group Foraminifera
Order Textulariida
Genus Clavulina
Taxonomic status Accepted
Geological age Ypresian

Summary

Clavulina anglica was an agglutinated benthic foraminifer that built its test from selected sediment grains. Like other textulariids it lived on or within the sea-floor sediment and extended pseudopodia through the terminal aperture to gather bacteria and organic particles.

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: an elongate agglutinated test whose early chambers form a multi-rowed section before later growth becomes a single uniserial row.

Diagnostic Features

  • Wall agglutinated and distinctly grainy under magnification.
  • Early test is triserial or otherwise multiserial rather than purely uniserial from the start.
  • Adult growth becomes uniserial with chambers stacked one above another.
  • Test is elongate and commonly angular in cross-section.
  • Aperture terminal on the final uniserial 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