Recent specimens of Spiculidendron were found on Late Pleistocene (21,400-22,500 BP) cold-water corals from the sea floor at 457 m depthof the inter-atoll Kardiva Channel of the eastern row of the Maldivesarchipelago. Spiculidendron and other dendrophryid foraminifera (Rhizammina-like forms) exclusively colonized specimens of the genusEnallopsammia, which was characterized by a phosphatic-stain surface.The Spiculidendron wall was composed of sponge spicules, elongateddiatom frustules, tests of juvenile benthic and planktic foraminifera,and calcareous nannoplankton, among other materials. Sponge spicules andelongated diatom frustules were arranged longitudinally, withforaminiferal tests and other bioclasts packed in between, indicatingthat the agglutination process of Spiculidendron is selective withrespect to the manner of growth. In the most distal parts of thebranches, only sponge spicules and elongated diatom frustules werepresent, working as guides for the test construction, prior to theagglutination of juvenile foraminiferal tests and other bioclasts.Moreover, in the sediment associated with the coral fragments, 94species of benthic foraminifera were identified, an assemblage distinctfrom the taxa incorporated into the agglutinated Spiculidendron tests.The process of wall growth is complex and ordered. This foraminifer, aswell as the Rhizammina-like specimens, tolerates dysoxic conditions (0.896 ml/l) and low temperature (12 degrees C). This observationrepresents a new record of Spiculidendron from the Indian Ocean and fromdeeper (aphotic) environments than previously reported from the shallowwaters of the Caribbean. A cryptobiontic habitat is interpreted for Spiculidendron.