MILIOLIDAE - Acta Palaeontologica Polonica

MILIOLIDAE FROM MIOCENE OF POLAND 21
Miliolidae abound from 0 to 120 m, forming up to 45 per cent of the
population at 0-10 m (Norton, 1930) and in the Mississippi Sound they
belong to the fauna of the coastal barrier and islets (together with Elphidium
and "Rotalia") and that of the open gulf (Phleger, 1954). In Cuba
they occur, also with Elphidium and Ammonia, in the inner shelf region
(Bandy, 1964 a), while in the Bahama Is. live near the banks in the open
ocean (Illing, 1952). In the region of the Atlantic shelf of the United States
(Long Island) the Miliolidae are most numerous between 24 and 150 m
(mostly Quinqueloculina and Miliolinella), their number decreasing with
the distance from the shore (Murray, 1969); in North Carolina they occur
in the central shelf zone at a depth of 0-45 m (Bandy & Arnal, 1957) and
in the Gulf of California in the coastal zone of a normal 34 per thousand
salinity (mainly Quinqueloculina; Bandy, 1961). In Santa Catalina the
miliolids are numerous down to 18 m and lacking below 91 m (Me Glasson,
1959). According to this author large numbers of miliolids are a reliable
indication of very shallow regions.
Off the coast of North Asia the Miliolidae have been recorded from
depths to 60 m, at which they live in small separate areas. They are
chiefly Quinqueloculina lamarckiana, Q. akneriana and Sigmoilina arenaria
(Polski, 1959). Along the coast of Southern China the Miliolidae
inhabit the littoral region of quiet waters showing no influences of
currents. Their diversity indicates shelf conditions (Waller, 1960). In the
Persian Gulf miliolids are indicators of shallow (10-100 m) waters
(Haake, 1970).
In the Mediterranean and Adriatic Seas the Miliolidae live under
similar conditions. Blanc-Vernet (1969) writes that the Miliolidae, including
agglutinating ones, form 20-40 per cent of the infralittoral environment
in the Mediterranean Sea (down to 50-100 m). Schlumberger (1893)
elaborated many species from the sands at a depth of 30-40 m in the
Gulf of Marseilles. According to Le Calvez (1958) in the Gulf of Villefranche
the agglutinating miliolids occur in shallow waters from 5 to 40 m
and the calcareous ones somewhat deeper, down to 100 and 200 m, e.g.
Quinqueloculina contorta - 10-70 m, Q. undosa and Q. vermicularis­
50-80 m, Q. ungeriana - 10-80 m, reticulate quinqueloculines - 5­
20 m, Pyrgo - to 250 m, Nummoloculina - 150-300 m and Sigmoilina
tenuis - to 700 m (generic names after Le Calvez). Kruit (1955) reports
that in the Delta of the Rhone most of the population at 0-90 m consists
of the Miliolidae, mostly Quinqueloculina seminulum and Triloculina
trigonula, as well as Elphidium crispum and Ammonia beccarii. Gla