A review of species names for Ammonia and Elphidium, common foraminifera along the Texas gulf coast

Species names for Ammonia and Elphidium have continually changed since these taxa were first described in Texas coastal environments. As a result, classification is problematic and the literature is inconsistent. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the taxonomic status of species currently assigned to Ammonia and Elphidium. This task has been accomplished through extensive literature review and through comparison of specimens from this study with those in the Cushman Collection at the National Museum of Natural History. Most Elphidium found along the Texas coast are assignable to either Elphidium gunteri or E. excavatum, and the Ammonia present are assignable to Ammonia parkinsoniana and A. tepida. Present geographic, molecular and reproductive evidence shows that the species names A. parkinsoniana and A. tepida, not A. beccarii, should be used to describe these morphotypes of Ammonia wherever they occur, including the Gulf of Mexico, the east coast of North America, the Caribbean and the Pacific.