Laminarena, Gooday & Ishitani & Chen & Holzmann & Richirt & Seike & Yamashita & Tsuchiya & Nomaki, 2025

Gooday, Andrew J., Ishitani, Yoshiyuki, Chen, Chong, Holzmann, Maria, Richirt, Julien, Seike, Koji, Yamashita, Momo, Tsuchiya, Masashi & Nomaki, Hidetaka, 2025, Integrative taxonomy of new xenophyophores (Rhizaria, Foraminifera) from the abyssal northwest Pacific, European Journal of Taxonomy 1004, pp. 144-189 : 163

Genus Laminarena gen. nov.

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:0B9D4CF3-8CC3-49B1-85BB-966EFBBD7C4A

Type species

Laminarena variabilis gen. et sp. nov. described below.

Diagnosis

Test free, epifaunal, up to at least 6.3 cm maximum dimension. Comprising several thin, delicate, curved or undulating plates with sinuous margins and occasional branches, typically arranged asymmetrically. Obvious apertures absent. Plates marked by concentric zones, traversed by low, closely spaced, radial ridges, together forming distinctive surface ornamentation. Plate walls composed of mineral grains including larger dark particles set in lighter-coloured, fine-grained matrix. Test interior without internal particles except for partitions corresponding to external radial ridges. Dark stercomare branches and pale granellare strands (width 45–100 µm) follow same radial trend. Granellare containing numerous barite crystals.

Etymology

A combination of the Latin words ‘ laminam ’ (‘plate’) and ‘ arena ’ (‘sand’), referring to the basically plate-like agglutinated test. Gender feminine.

Remarks

Phylogenetically, Laminarena gen. nov. is close to the genus Aschemonella Brady, 1879 , grouping together with A. aspera Gooday & Holzmann, 2017 and Aschemonella sp. 3 sensu Gooday et al. (2017b). However, the two genera have little in common morphologically, apart from the fact that the test is agglutinated and internal xenophyae absent. The new genus is characterised by a basically plate-like test, whereas in Aschemonella , the test is either a tube interrupted by internal partitions or a sequence of more or less globular chambers. Given these striking morphological differences, we feel justified in establishing this new genus.