New records of soft‐shelled monothalamous Foraminifera and gromiids on the Romanian Black Sea shelf

The current study reveals the presence of both “soft-shelled monothalamous” Foraminifera (Saccamminidae and Allogromiidae families) and Cercozoa (Gromiidae family) for the first time in the studied areas of Sulina, Sf. Gheorghe, Portița, Constanța, Tuzla and Mangalia. The investigated areas are located from North to South, belonging to the Romanian continental shelf of the Black Sea. The samples transect ranged from shallow to deep water between 19.5 and 149 m depth. The measurement campaign was conducted in three consecutive years, 2017, 2018 and 2019 with the GeoEcoMar’s research vessel Mare Nigrum. The main objective of this contribution is to present the taxonomic composition of soft-shelled monothalamous foraminiferans and gromiids and their spatial distribution in the Romanian Black Sea shelf. In the Black Sea, soft-shelled monothalamous foraminiferans and gromiids are poorly documented and few species have been described. Some of these species may be new to science. Therefore, further analysis is required, encompassing both morphological and molecular criteria, for an accurate identification of these taxa.