Bryozoa

Fenestrata

Belongs within: Cryptostomata.Contains: Phylloporinidae, Fenestellidae, Acanthocladiidae. The Fenestrata are a group of bryozoans known from the Early Ordovician to the Permian. Fenestrates have zoaria arranged in a lacy network with short autozooids on one side of the zoarium, often with a hemiseptum at the base. Members of the suborder Fenestellina have tangentially rhombic or tetragonal… Continue reading Fenestrata

Cribrilinidae

Belongs within: Cheilostomata. The Cribrilinidae are a living family of encrusting bryozoans in which the frontal shield is made up of radiating, hollow spines. Members include the genus Membraniporella, in which the coalesced, depressed frontal spines are recumbent over the membranous ectocyst and partly separated by transverse slits (Bassler 1953). Characters (Bassler 1953): Zooecia with membranous frontal… Continue reading Cribrilinidae

Schizoporelloidea

Belongs within: Cheilostomata.Contains: Microporella, Mucropetraliella. The Schizoporelloidea are a group of cheilostom bryozoans with a pseudoporous frontal shield. Representatives include the Schizoporellidae, often encrusting bryozoans characterised by the possession of a primary orifice with a concave posterior margin bearing a median sinus. SchizoporelloideaTHG01 |–Echinovadoma Tilbrook, Hayward & Gordon 2001 [Echinovadomidae]THG01 | `–*E. anceps Tilbrook, Hayward & Gordon… Continue reading Schizoporelloidea

Belongs within: Platytrochozoa.Contains: Plumatella, Stenolaemata, Cheilostomata, Stoloniferina, Carnosa, Arachnidiidae, Victorellidae, Vesiculariidae. The Bryozoa, sometimes known as moss animals or lace animals, are aquatic (mostly marine) minute colonial animals with the mouth surrounded by a ring of tentacles (the lophophore) and a U-shaped gut with the anus situated outside the lophophore. The lophophore can be retrated within… Continue reading Bryozoa

Cryptostomata

Belongs within: Trepostomata.Contains: Ptilodictyina, Fenestrata, Arthrostylidae. Hidden mouths of the Palaeozoic Published 11 February 2025 In the modern fauna, the bryozoans tend to be dismissed as a fairly minor component of marine diversity, far less prominent than other sessile filter-feeders such as sponges and corals. This was not always the case; the calcareous skeletons of most bryozoan… Continue reading Cryptostomata

Vesiculariidae

Belongs within: Bryozoa. The Vesiculariidae are a family of ctenostome bryozoans characterised by the presence of a distinct stolon. Members include the genus Vesicularia which has ovate, deciduous, distant zooecia that are contracted at the base and polypides possessing a gizzard (Harmer 1915). Characters (from Harmer 1915): Axis relatively thick, branching, tubular; zooecia directly attached to… Continue reading Vesiculariidae

Cheilostomata

Belongs within: Bryozoa.Contains: Calescharidae, Arachnopusioidea, Mamilloporoidea, Phidoloporidae, Celleporidae, Hippothoidae, Lepraliellidae, Catenicelloidea, Smittinidae, Lepraliomorpha, Flustridae, Cribrilinidae, Membraniporidae, Electridae, Bugulidae, Beaniidae, Candidae, Calloporidae, Thalamoporellidae. The Cheilostomata are a group of bryozoans in which the individual zooids are calcareous and box-like, and have a small orifice closed by a hinged, chitinous operculum (Prothero 1998). They have historically been… Continue reading Cheilostomata

Petraliellidae

Belongs within: Lepraliomorpha. Bryozoans get rooted Published 11 September 2022 Life as a sessile organism comes with its challenges. Whereas your mobile compatriots have the option to change their surroundings if conditions become difficult, you need to weather things as they come. You need a firm, broad foundation to achieve optimum growth. You need to… Continue reading Petraliellidae

Trepostomata

Belongs within: Stenolaemata.Contains: Trematoporidae, Dyscritellidae, Stenoporidae, Ulrichotrypellidae, Cystoporata, Cryptostomata, Halloporina. The Trepostomata are a group of bryozoans known from the Ordovician to the Triassic, being particularly abundant during the Ordovician. Massive trepostome colonies form a dominant component of some Ordovician limestones (Prothero 1998). Characters (from Prothero 1998): Zoarium including three different forms of zooecia: autopores,… Continue reading Trepostomata

Cystoporata

Belongs within: Trepostomata. The Cystoporata are a group of bryozoans known from the Ordovician to the Triassic. Members of this group have curved partitions (cystiphragms) separating zooecia, and often crescentic projections (lunaria) around the apertures (Prothero 1998). <==Cystoporata |–Lichenalia [Rhinoporidae]T93 | `–L. concentrica Hall 1852T93 |–Botryllopora [Botrylloporidae]T93 | `–B. socialis Nicholson 1874T93 |–RevalotrypidaeT93 | |–Revalotrypa… Continue reading Cystoporata