Uvigerina batjesi

Uvigerina batjesi

Kaasschieter, 1961

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

Summary

Uvigerina batjesi was an elongate benthic foraminifer adapted to life within the sediment. Uvigerinids are commonly infaunal and associated with relatively high organic flux, using pseudopodia to exploit bacteria and fine organic matter in pore spaces; that ecology is a reasonable comparison for the London Clay species.

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, tapering triserial test with inflated chambers and a terminal aperture raised on a short neck.

Diagnostic Features

  • Test elongate and tapering, built from successive inflated chambers.
  • Chambers show triserial arrangement through much of growth.
  • Surface may carry longitudinal costae or fine ornament depending on preservation.
  • Sutures are depressed, emphasising the individual chambers.
  • Aperture terminal and produced on a short neck at 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.

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