Overview of Eocene Planktonic Foraminiferal Taxonomy, Paleoecology, Phylogeny, and Biostratigraphy

This monograph has been compiled by members of the Paleogene Planktonic Foraminifera Working Group (hereafter referred to as the Working Group) of the International Subcommission on Paleogene Stratigraphy, International Union of Geological Sciences. It is the second such work in a projected series of three, the first being the Atlas of Paleocene Planktonic Foraminifera published by Smithsonian Institution Press (Olsson and others, 1999). Here we extend that effort to encompass the full flowering of the adaptive radiation of planktonic foraminifera in the Eocene. The atlas has its origins in 1987, when the Working Group was formed. At that time it was clear that a major revision of the Paleogene planktonic foraminifera was necessary in order to synthesize a highly dispersed body of literature and to develop new taxonomic concepts, based, as far as possible, on scanning electron microscopy (SEM). At the first formal meeting a decision was made to focus on the production of an initial Paleocene atlas. Since that work was sent to press in 1996, our efforts have been directed almost exclusively at unravelling the taxonomic complexities of the Eocene planktonic foraminifera. The Working Group’s practice has been to meet once or twice a year to coordinate efforts, debate the latest Chapter 1