Unifying Retaria Research: A Common Framework for Studying Foraminifera and Radiolaria

Spanning over 500 million years, the fossil record of Retaria is a cornerstone of paleobiology, paleoclimate reconstruction, and stratigraphy. Yet, the constitutive branches of Retaria, Foraminifera, and Radiolaria, not only have been studied independently, but just a fraction of this research has focused on living representatives of these lineages. Here we tentatively identify the "Big Five" areas of biological research into Retaria, articulated around novel and transformative understanding of their evolution and diversity, role in ocean biogeochemistry, life cycles, and ecology. Through this perspective, we argue that a unified Retaria framework that seamlessly integrates biological and paleontological data will benefit the scientific community at large, train the next generation of researchers broadly and open novel perspectives to understand the global ocean's evolution.