'Ammonia, like many other foraminiferans, can undergo alternation of generations. In Foraminiferida in general, individuals of the haploid or gamont generation are generally smaller, have a large proloculus (the initial chamber of a foraminiferal test without nepionic differentiation) [megalospheric] (the large proloculus in di- or trimorphic species), and reproduce sexually by producing gametes via mitosis. Individuals of the diploid or agamont (specimen grown from the zygote) [or schizont] (offspring of an agamont reproducing either by another apogamous nuclear division and cytotomy (i.e. by distributing the mother protoplasm among the offspring) or undergoing meiosis) generation are usually larger, have a small proloculus (microspheric), and reproduce asexually via meiosis (Loeblich and Tappan, 1964).'
(GULF COAST ASSOCIATION OF GEOLOGICAL SOCIETIES TRANSACTIONS VOL. XLVIII 1998. A Morphological Study of Ammonia parkinsoniana from Laguna Madre and Baffin Bay, Texas. Denise F. Colburn and Jon A. Baskin Department of Geosciences, Texas A&M University-Kingsville, Kingsville, TX 78363.http://www.tamuk.edu/biology/faculty/BASKIN/Colburdand%20BaskinAmmoniaparkinsoniana.pdf)
'Ammonia is a common and widely adapted genus that occurs in brackish, normal marine, and hypersaline environments, at water depths from the intertidal zone to approximately 70 m, from the tropics to the temperate regions of the world (Phleger and Parker, 1951; Chang and Kaesler, 1974; Walton and Sloan, 1990; Murray, 1991). Most individuals live in the top 0-1 cm, although live specimens have been found living at sediment depths of up to 30 cm (Goldstein and Rarben, 1993).'
(GULF COAST ASSOCIATION OF GEOLOGICAL SOCIETIES TRANSACTIONS VOL. XLVIII 1998.
A Morphological Study of Ammonia parkinsoniana from Laguna Madre and Baffin Bay, Texas. Denise F. Colburn and Jon A. Baskin Department of Geosciences, Texas A&M University-Kingsville, Kingsville, TX 78363.http://www.tamuk.edu/biology/faculty/BASKIN/Colburdand%20BaskinAmmoniaparkinsoniana.pdf)
This benthic foraminifera (foram for short) dominates the assemblages of Los Archipelago (Guinea).
(Jean-Pierre Debenay and Jean-Jacques Guillou. Estuaries and Coasts. Volume 25, Number 6 / December, 2002. March 18, 2010. < http://www.springerlink.com/content/74n7261047638763/.>)
It has also been found in Baffin Bay and Laguna Madre, Texas.
(A Morphological Study of Ammonia parkinsoniana from Laguna Madre and Baffin Bay, Texas. Denise F. Colburn and Jon A. Baskin Department of Geosciences, Texas A&M University-Kingsville, Kingsville, TX 78363.http://www.tamuk.edu/biology/faculty/BASKIN/Colburdand%20BaskinAmmoniaparkinsoniana.pdf)
The estuary in the Zaire River, 'where freshwater inflow is strong,' and 'the marine influence is limited to the deep central channel' houses A. parkinoniana also.
(Martin, Ronald. Environamental Micropaleontology: The application of Microfossils to the Environmental Geology. Plenum Publishers: Newark, Delaware. 2000.)
'Longevity in Ammonia is typically 2-3 months (Bradshaw, 1957).'
(GULF COAST ASSOCIATION OF GEOLOGICAL SOCIETIES TRANSACTIONS VOL. XLVIII 1998.
A Morphological Study of Ammonia parkinsoniana from Laguna Madre and Baffin Bay, Texas. Denise F. Colburn and Jon A. Baskin Department of Geosciences, Texas A&M University-Kingsville, Kingsville, TX 78363.http://www.tamuk.edu/biology/faculty/BASKIN/Colburdand%20BaskinAmmoniaparkinsoniana.pdf)
'Until recently, the most widely accepted opinion has been that there is but a single species of the benthic foraminiferan Ammonia, A. beccarii, with at least three distinct ecophenotypic variants...Both A. tepida and A. parkinsoniana occur on the Gulf Coast (Poag, 1981). A. tepida is smaller and thinner walled and has fewer chambers in the final whorl and no umbilical plug; A. parkinsoniana,larger and thicker walled, with more chambers and a broad umbilical plug.
(A Morphological Study of Ammonia parkinsoniana from Laguna Madre and Baffin Bay, Texas. Denise F. Colburn and Jon A. Baskin Department of Geosciences, Texas A&M University-Kingsville, Kingsville, TX 78363.http://www.tamuk.edu/biology/faculty/BASKIN/Colburdand%20BaskinAmmoniaparkinsoniana.pdf)
'...water temperature and salinity can affect the morphology of
(GULF COAST ASSOCIATION OF GEOLOGICAL SOCIETIES TRANSACTIONS VOL. XLVIII 1998.
A Morphological Study of Ammonia parkinsoniana from Laguna Madre and Baffin Bay, Texas. Denise F. Colburn and Jon A. Baskin Department of Geosciences, Texas A&M University-Kingsville, Kingsville, TX 78363.http://www.tamuk.edu/biology/faculty/BASKIN/Colburdand%20BaskinAmmoniaparkinsoniana.pdf)
'It
(GULF COAST ASSOCIATION OF GEOLOGICAL SOCIETIES TRANSACTIONS VOL. XLVIII 1998.
A Morphological Study of Ammonia parkinsoniana from Laguna Madre and Baffin Bay, Texas. Denise F. Colburn and Jon A. Baskin Department of Geosciences, Texas A&M University-Kingsville, Kingsville, TX 78363.http://www.tamuk.edu/biology/faculty/BASKIN/Colburdand%20BaskinAmmoniaparkinsoniana.pdf)
