First findings of soft-walled monothalamous foraminifera and gromiids in the meiobenthic communities of the South China Sea
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As a group of marine Protozoa, foraminifera play an important role in marine ecosystems. The data about hard-shelled foraminiferans from the Spratly Islands was reported in results of geological surveys. So far, there is no information on soft-walled foraminifera, for the Spratly Islands and the South China Sea (in Vietnamese, Biển Đông) in particular. This study aims to provide the first data on soft-walled foraminiferans and gromiids of the Truong Sa Archipelago. We also analyzed taxonomical diversity of the meiobenthic communities in bottom sediments and periphyton in aquatic habitats of the archipelago. Sampling was carried out during an expedition to the Spratly Islands in April 2022 at eight stations within a depth range of 6–20 m. Representatives of 20 high-level taxa (phylum, class, and order) were revealed in the composition of the meiobenthic communities of periphyton and bottom sediments in the study area. Among the protozoan hydrobionts, Ciliophora Doflein, 1901, Foraminifera d’Orbigny, 1826 (hard-shelled and soft-walled), and Gromiidea Cavalier-Smith, 2003 were recorded. In this work, particular attention is paid to Protozoa previously unknown for waters of the Vietnamese region: Foraminifera (monothalamous, soft-walled) and Cercozoa (Gromiidea). The former were found at two stations in periphyton; the latter were noted at seven stations in periphyton and at two stations in coral sand. We identified three species of soft-walled foraminifera, and two of those were tentatively assigned to the genera Bowseria Sinniger et al., 2008 and Bathyallogromia Gooday et al., 2004. Gromiids were represented by nine morphotypes; each morphotype is briefly described in the paper.
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