Lobatula lobatula

Lobatula lobatula

(Walker & Jacob, 1798)

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

Summary

Lobatula lobatula was an attached or free-living epibenthic foraminifer with a low trochospiral calcitic test. Living Lobatula commonly occupies firm grains, shells or other surfaces and feeds with pseudopodia on bacteria and fine organic particles at the sediment-water interface.

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 low, flattened trochospiral test, commonly planoconvex, with a lobulate outer margin and chambers visible around the final whorl.

Diagnostic Features

  • Test low trochospiral and commonly planoconvex.
  • Peripheral outline becomes distinctly lobulate as chambers enlarge.
  • Spiral and umbilical sides are unequal rather than mirror-image planispiral.
  • Chamber sutures are clear and curve across the test surface.
  • Wall is calcitic and perforate; attached specimens may have an irregular flattened attachment side.

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