Sergeeva N.G., Anikeeva O.V. 2021. Vellaria solenta (Monothalamea: Allogromiidae) — new species of soft-walled foraminifera from Sivash Bay (the Sea of Azov) // Invertebrate Zoology. Vol.18. No.2: 152–158 [in English].
A.O. Kovalevsky Institute of Biology of the Southern Seas, Russian Academy of Sciences, Nakhimov Ave., 2, Sevastopol, Crimea, 299011, Russia. E-mails: nserg05@mail.ru , oksana.anikeeva@gmail.com
doi: 10.15298/invertzool.18.2.06
ABSTRACT: We describe Vellaria solenta sp.n., a new species of soft-walled, monothalamous foraminifera based on 16 individuals found in the hypersaline Sivash Bay (Sea of Azov). The distinctive morphological features of the species are the presence of protoplasm completely filling the entire space of the test and the interior of the apertural neck, and the short, thin processes that extend beyond the aperture in most individuals. Other representatives of the genus Vellaria, namely V. pellucida Gooday et Fernando, 1992 and V. sacculus Gooday et Fernando, 1992, were found in the south-western of the Sea of Azov (Sergeeva, 2016), where the salinity did not exceed 14‰, compared to 74‰ in Sivash in the case of Vellaria solenta sp.n.
KEY WORDS: Soft-walled foraminifera, Sivash, the Sea of Azov, Vellaria solenta.