| Abstract: | Evidence is given supporting the possibility of survival in the modern Black Sea of descendents of Miocene Pontic foraminiferal populations. This evidence includes the present existence of Foraminifera in the Aral and Caspian Seas, the existence of pockets of species in the Paratethys area in waters long isolated from any seas, the existence in the Golovitza Lagoon of Foraminifera living at salinities lower than those that are thought to have existed in the Pontic Basin during its lacustrine period, and evidence from zoogeography. It is shown that there are morphological, ecological and physiological modifications in these aboriginal populations as compared to populations of the same species living in the Mediterranean. In addition to these aboriginal populations, evidence is given for three invasions of Foraminifera from the Mediterranean during geological periods when the Black and Mediterranean Seas were merged. |
