Elphidium hiltermanni

Elphidium hiltermanni

Hagn, 1952

Common name Foraminifer
Fossil group Foraminifera
Order Rotaliida
Family Elphidiidae
Genus Elphidium
Taxonomic status Accepted
Geological age Ypresian

Summary

Elphidium hiltermanni was a benthic elphidiid foraminifer with a planispiral calcitic test. Elphidiids commonly live in shallow-marine sediments and graze or collect bacteria, algae and organic detritus with an extensive pseudopodial network.

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 small lenticular planispiral test with a lobulate margin and distinctive sutural bridges or retral processes visible under good magnification.

Diagnostic Features

  • Test planispiral and involute, with both sides broadly similar.
  • Overall profile lenticular to compressed.
  • Final chambers produce a gently lobulate peripheral outline.
  • Sutural zones bear retral processes/bridges characteristic of Elphidium when well preserved.
  • Apertural openings occur along the base of the final chamber rather than as one terminal neck.

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.

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