Introduction

Bartenstein, Bettenstaedt & Bolli and Bartenstein & Bolli described and illustrated in five papers (1957-1986) the benthic and some planktic foraminifera from the Early Cretaceous Barremian to Early Albian of Trinidad. They distinguished 78 benthic genera, 185 species and subspecies of which 13 were described as new. The idea of these joint publications with Bartenstein and Bettenstaedt dates back to a suggestion by Bolli (1950) which was guided by the following considerations:

Compared with those from western Europe, where Early Cretaceous foraminifera are well developed and can be studied in successive sedimentary sequences including boreholes, those from the Americas were at the time less well known. The study of the European forms began in the nineteenth century with authors such as Roemer, Reuss, Berthelin and Chapman. These early studies were supplemented in the Northwest German Early Cretaceous from 1932 to 1942 by the more stratigraphically orientated investigations of Eichenberg, Hecht and Wicher. This period was followed by modern revisions by authors such as Albers, Bartenstein, Bettenstaedt and Brand.

In their publication ‘Stratigraphic correlation of Upper Cretaceous and Lower Cretaceous in the Tethys and Boreal by the aid of microfossils (Germany)’ Bettenstaedt & Wicher (1955) for the first time pointed out the worldwide occurrence of numerous Cretaceous benthic foraminifera with apparently the same stratigraphic distribution as in the boreal and tethyan realms. This was based on a comparison of the North German faunas with those of other European countries, Israel, Egypt, Morocco, USA, Mexico and Trinidad.