EARLY CAMBRIAN FORAMINIFERA FROM THE SOUTHWESTERN TAOUDENI BASIN, WEST-AFRICA

Foraminifera are rare in the Cambrian fossil record and only ten genera have been recorded. Thirteen agglutinated specimens have been recovered recently from siltstones of the Nandoumari Formation, Mali group, in the southwestern part of the Taoudeni Basin, West Africa. These specimens extend the stratigraphic range of several genera. Associated fossils tentatively suggest an Early Cambrian, perhaps Atdabanian age for the foraminifera-bearing strata, although a Middle Cambrian age is possible. The thirteen specimens have been assigned to Sorosphaera? sp., Hemisphaerammina sp., Ammodiscus diai new species, Tolypammina? sp., Glomospira sp., Turritellella sp., and genus and species indeterminate.