Foraminifera (forams) are single-celled organisms with exoskeletons, called tests. Many forams live in the ocean, but they can also be found in other damp environments. There are over 50,000 known species of Foraminifera that have been found in sediments from the early Cambrian (539 million years ago) all they way through to those living today!

Most forams secrete calcium carbonate to form their tests, but the forams you see here are agglutinated. This means their tests are made from small pieces of sediments that have been cemented together. Dr. Paul Dunn, former Geosciences Department Head and namesake of the Dunn-Seiler Museum, collected these specimens in Illinois the early 1900's as part of his dissertation research. These specimens are still being investigated by researchers today.