Floresina: a genus of predators, parasites or scavengers?

Hallock and Talge (1994) described a small predatory foraminifer Floresina amphiphaga attacking the larger foraminifer Amphistegina gibbosa. The attack by F. amphiphaga on A. gibbosa often resulted in the death of the latter and formed a characteristic trace on its test. We report a similar trace on the test of the planktonic foraminifer, Globorotalia menardii, from a sample from 175 m water depth, collected seaward of the barrier reef at Suva, Fiji, that may be the result of Floresina attack. If this supposition is correct, it suggests that drilling is more widespread in the genus that previously known; that the phenomenon may extend beyond alleged predation or parasitism of living foraminifera to scavenging on dead foraminifera; and that foraminfer-foraminifer interactions involving drilling may be more widespread than previously suspected.