Calcareous smaller foraminifers from the Lower Permian Council Grove Groupnear Hooser, Kansas

The classic work of Erich Spandel (1901) on Early Permian foraminifers from Hooser, Kansas is revised here on the basis of new collections. The strati graphic interval exposed at Hooser is assigned to a portion of the Council Grove Group that spans the Asselian-Sakmarian stadial boundary within the C isuralian Series. Preliminary analysis of the Hooser fauna demonstrates little congruence bet ween foraminiferal biofacies and fourth-order depositional sequences indepe ndently defined on both sedimentologic and conodont abundance criteria, The lack of congruence is probably attributable to coarse and lithologically b iased sampling for foraminifers, Nevertheless, diverse foraminiferal faunas correspond generally to shallow, normal marine depositional phases and imp overished faunas to restricted marine phases, Among the taxa first described from Hooser, only Geinitzina postcarbonica S pandel retains its original nomenclatural designation. The taxonomic status of Monogenerina Spandel has been unclear historically, and it remains so b ecause we are unable to relate the type illustrations to anything recovered from the new samples. Specimens identified by Spandel as Bigenerina cf. ex imia Eichwald and Textularia gibbosa d'Orbigny (sensu Brady) are probably r eferrable to the Palaeotextulariidae. Ammodiscus concavus Spandel is reassi gned to Brunsiella as B, concava (Spandel). We follow previous authors in e levating Tetrataxis conica Ehrenberg var. lata Spandel to Tetrataxis lata S pandel, and in referring Nodosaria postcarbonica Spandel to Nodosinelloides , The genus Tezaquina Vachard was described originally as pseudoseptate. Re -examination of the type species, T. clivuli Vachard, confirms that it lack s septa but possesses internal wall thickenings that crudely partition the test. Primitively septate forms previously identified as Tezaquina are refe rred to Vervilleina n, gen,, anchored by the type species Dentalina bradyi Spandel from the Hooser locality, The presence of septation delimits the Sy zraniidae from the Geinitzinidae, both of which are classified here within the Lagenina, According to this interpretation, the Lagenina are probably a monophyletic group that originated in Moscovian time, and then diversified throughout the remaining Late Paleozoic before their major radiation in th e Early Mesozoic.