[nuhm-yuh-lahyt] 
| a fossil foraminifer of the genus Camerina (Nummulites), having a calcareous, usually disklike shell. |
| num·mu·lite (nŭm'yə-līt') n. A large, coin-shaped, fossil foraminifer of the genus Nummulites, widely distributed in limestone formations from the Eocene Epoch to the Miocene Epoch of the Cenozoic. [From New Latin Nummulītēs, type genus, from Latin nummulus, diminutive of nummus, coin, probably from Greek nomimos, customary, legal; see nem- in Indo-European roots.] num'mu·lit'ic (-lĭt'ĭk) adj. |
nummulite
any of the thousands of extinct species of relatively large, lens-shaped foraminifers (single-celled marine organisms) that were abundant during the Tertiary Period (66.4 to 1.6 million years ago). Nummulites were particularly prominent during the Eocene Epoch (57.8 to 36.6 million years ago), and limestone of this age that occurs in the Sahara is called nummulite limestone in reference to the great abundance of its contained fossil nummulites.
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yəˌlaɪt