Fossil group

Foraminifera

Foraminifera · Cambrian – Recent

Single-celled, amoeba-like marine protists that build a mineralised, often many-chambered shell called a test. They live from the shoreline to the deep sea — the tiny forms are abundant microfossils, while the larger, complex forms build limestones — and their shells are among the most useful tools in marine biostratigraphy.

A broad fossil group rather than a single taxon — the units below record it among their fauna or flora.