| Summary: | Tunisia, Ukraine, Russia, the North Sea area and elsewhere have yielded knowledge that the Early Cretaceous planktonic foraminifera are predominantly members of the Praehedbergellidae. The taxonomy and phylogeny of this family have been revised and refined. New generic and specific taxa have been proposed, new phylogenetic lineages have been described, and many type specimens have been imaged by scanning electron microscopy for the first time. Gorbachikella (Hauterivian-Early Aptian) gave rise to Praehedbergella (Late Hauterivian-Late Aptian), evolving Blefuscuiana, Lilliputianella, and the planospiral Blowiella in the Barremian. The last gave rise to Globigerinelloides in the Aptian, from which the macroperforate Alanlordella (and its descendant Planomalina) evolved in the Albian. Blowiella was ancestral to taxa with radially elongated chambers (Claviblowiella, Leupoldina, Schackoina). © 1996 Academic Press Limited.
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