| Acanthoceramoporella | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Bryozoa |
| Class: | Stenolaemata |
| Order: | † Cystoporida |
| Family: | † Acanthoceramoporellidae |
| Genus: | † Acanthoceramoporella Utgaard, 1968 [1] |
Acanthoceramoporella is an extinct genus of cystoporate [2] bryozoans from the Ordovician period. [3]
Bryozoa are a phylum of simple, aquatic invertebrate animals, nearly all living in sedentary colonies. Typically about 0.5 millimetres long, they have a special feeding structure called a lophophore, a "crown" of tentacles used for filter feeding. Most marine bryozoans live in tropical waters, but a few are found in oceanic trenches and polar waters. The bryozoans are classified as the marine bryozoans (Stenolaemata), freshwater bryozoans (Phylactolaemata), and mostly-marine bryozoans (Gymnolaemata), a few members of which prefer brackish water. 5,869 living species are known. At least two genera are solitary ; the rest are colonial.
Stenolaemata are a class of exclusively marine bryozoans. Stenolaemates originated and diversified in the Ordovician, and more than 600 species are still alive today. All extant (living) species are in the order Cyclostomatida, the third-largest order of living bryozoans.
The International Bryozoology Association (IBA) is a professional association with international membership specialising in research of the phylum Bryozoa.
Favositella is an extinct genus of bryozoans from the Ordovician, Silurian and Devonian periods.
Trepostomatida is an extinct order of bryozoans in the class Stenolaemata. Trepostome bryozoans possessed mineralized calcitic skeletons and are frequently fossilized; some of the largest known fossilized bryozoan colonies are branching trepostomes and massive dome-shaped trepostomes. Trepostomes did not have many specialized zooecia beyond ordinary feeding autozooecia. The two main known heteromorphs are exilazooecia and mesozooecia, which had the purpose of maintaining regular spacing between autozooecia.
Cristatella mucedo is a bryozoan in the family Cristatellidae, and the only species of the genus Cristatella. They are noted for their elongated shape and colorless, transparent bodies.
Schizoporella unicornis is a species of bryozoans in the family Schizoporellidae. Species have been found intertidally around oyster beds in Georgia. However, the origins of this species are likely from British Columbia.
Cystoporida, also known as Cystoporata or cystoporates, are an extinct order of Paleozoic bryozoans in the class Stenolaemata. Their fossils are found from Ordovician to Triassic strata.
Fenestrata is an extinct order of bryozoan, dating from the Upper Arenig. Most fenestrate bryozoans formed net-like colonies, often in funnel- or fan-shaped forms, with a single layer of zooids facing one direction. The colony shape served as a filter-feeding apparatus that water currents flowed through, with autozooecial apertures only on the side of the colony facing into the current. This colony structure was vulnerable to predators, so some fenestrate bryozoans produced skeletal superstructures, likely to strengthen or protect the colony, and others had protective spines surrounding their autozooecial apertures.
Crepipora is an extinct genus of marine bryozoans belonging to the Ceramoporidae family. There are currently 18 collections from Belarus, Sweden, Canada, France and the United States. It was first assigned to Cystoporata by Sepkoski in 2002. The fossil range is from the Middle Ordovician to the Upper Ordovician.
Bryosartor is a genus of bryozoan described by Gordon and Braga in 1994. The only species is Bryosartor sutilis. It belongs to the family Catenicellidae. No subspecies are listed. It is a marine bryozoan known from New Caledonia.
Monticulipora is an extinct genus of Ordovician bryozoans belonging to the family Monticuliporidae. It was first named in 1849, and its description was published the following year by French paleontologist Alcide M. d'Orbigny, making it one of the earliest bryozoans to be recognized in science. It is still one of the most widespread fossil bryozoan genera. Though colonies that grow in masses made of multiple layers are characteristic of the genus, its colonies have varying shapes, able to be encrusting, branching, massive, or frond-like, and are covered in monticules (bumps). Most Monticulipora species have distinctively granular walls, and Monticulipora and can be distinguished from Homotrypa by the presence of axial diaphragms.
Dekayia is an extinct genus of Ordovician bryozoans of the family Heterotrypidae. Its colonies can be branching, encrusting, or massive. All species have acanthopores in varying sizes and numbers. The autozooecia appear angular or sub-angular viewed through a cross-section of the colony, and their walls are distinctively undulating or crenulated. Maculae generally protrude from the colony surface very little or at all, and can contain unusually large autozooecia and a cluster of mesozooecia in their centers.
Homotrypa is an extinct genus of bryozoans from the Ordovician and Silurian periods, known from fossils found in the United States. Its colonies are branch-like and have small monticules made of groups of three or four larger zooecia slightly protruding out from the main surface of the colony. In cross section, the zooecia are erect in axis and gently curve toward the surface of the colony.
Eridotrypa is an extinct genus of bryozoans of the family Aisenvergiidae, consistently forming colonies made of thin branches. Diaphragms are very common in colonies. Distinctively, in the exozone there are serrated dark borders separating the autozooecia.
Quadrisemicoscinium is an extinct genus of fenestrate bryozoan, known from the Early Devonian period, of the family Semicosciniidae. It formed net-like colonies of relatively thick branches with two rows of autozooids per branch, supported by a vesicular skeleton.
Lunaferamita is an extinct genus of cystoporate bryozoans of the family Constellariidae, known from the Middle Ordovician. It is distinct from other Constellariidae due to the presence of a lunarium, a quality distinctive to cystoporates. Like other Constellariidae, such as Constellaria, it has star-shaped monticules (bumps) on the surface of its colonies.
Prasopora is an extinct genus of bryozoan belonging to the family Monticuliporidae, known from the Middle Ordovician. Its colonies were disc-shaped or hemispherical, flat on bottom and convex on top, and had very abundant mesopores; in the case of the species P. insularis its zooecia were isolated from each other by the numerous mesopores surrounding them. It is very similar to the genus Monticulipora, and some bryozoan species have been assigned to both genera at different points in their study, but it is mostly distinguished by having more mesozooecia, rounder autozooecial apertures, relatively few acanthostyles and diaphragms and cystiphragms equally distributed in the autozooecia.
Hemiphragma is an extinct genus of Middle Ordovician bryozoan. It had branching colonies with thick-walled zooecial apertures and lots of acanthopores, but few mesopores.
Crassaluna is an extinct genus of cystoporate bryozoan of the family Anolotichiidae, known from the Ordovician period. It had an encrusting growth habit or, in the case of C. fungiforme, formed cup-shaped colonies. Its colonies possessed a vesicular skeleton and monticules. Its cyst-like interzooecial spaces are a distinguishing feature.
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