Iridia Heron-Allen & Earland 1914

Iridia is a genus of foraminifera belonging to the subfamily Tholosininae. It contains four species. The first species, I. diaphana, was discovered in the Querimba archipelago by scientists Edward Heron-Allen and Arthur Earland, who first described the genus in 1914.

Test attached, a hemispherical or irregular chamber with short tubular to branching projections; wall proteinaceous, consisting of a fibrillar lamina propria, formed by endoplasm, and an outer perilamina produced by the ectoplasm and pseudopodia, may include agglutinated particles; apertures at ends of tubular projections; pseudopodia elongate, bifurcating, and arising from a stomostyle or pseudopodial trunk; during asexual reproduction young embryos become temporarily pelagic and have radiating, nonanastomosing pseudopodia, later the pseudopodia are withdrawn, the embryo attaches to the substrate and forms a test; during sexual reproduction gametes with two laterally attached unequal flagella unite to form a diploid schizont that is morphologically like the gamont. Holocene; Africa: Kerimba Archipelago; Caribbean; Mediterranean. (Loeblich & Tappan, 1987, Foraminiferal Genera and Their Classification)