Biometrical analysis of generation differences in the Cretaceous foraminiferal species Gabonella elongata

Six morphometrical characters are analyzed on each of 64-specimens of Gabonella elongata, de Klasz & Meijer (1960), picked out from the same level in the Upper Campanian part of a borehole core from western Nigeria. Multivariate statistical analyzes by means of standard methods, show the existence of trimorphism with one microspheric and two megalospheric generations, in this paper denoted Me1 and Me2. The generations are well separated by differences in size, morphological variability and ontogeny. There is a tendency for a reduction in size of the last chamber in the megalospheric populations, especially in Me1.