Turborotalita humilis (Brady, 1884)


This species (Fig. 38) is small and only a small part of its fossils can be expected in the grain size fraction >150 micrometers. Turborotalita humilis was found in subtropical areas of the North Atlantic, and in tropical-subtropical areas of the Indian Ocean. The occurrence towards higher latitudes (> about 40û) appears to be truncated and may be an effect of smaller size in high latitudes (cf. Hecht, 1976). The relation with salinity, however, does not suggest a high latitude habitat. The species prefers water masses with elevated and seasonally stable salinity. The preferences for vertical temperature gradients and stratification in winter argue for a typically subtropical species. In contrast, there seems to be little relation with these parameters in summer. Possibly this argues for an annual reproduction cycle in analogy with G. truncatulinoides and G. hirsuta.


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Figure 38: Turborotalita humilis (Brady, 1884). Plots of relative abundance vs. selected physical parameters and latitude. For preferences in numeric form see appendix.

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