Hallopora is an extinct genus of bryozoans of the family Halloporidae, first identified from the Lower Silurian period. They can be found in Ohio, Indiana, and Kentucky of the Midwestern United States, commonly in the Ordovician Kope Formation.
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.
Ray Smith Bassler was an American geologist and paleontologist.
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.
Amplexopora is a genus of bryozoans of the family Amplexoporidae, known in the rock record from the Ordovician to the Permian periods. Species belonging to this genus were stationary epifaunal suspension feeders. Their colonies showed a very great variety in shapes.
Madeleine Alberta Fritz was a Canadian palaeontologist. She was a professor at the University of Toronto, where she taught vertebrate studies in the department of Geology. Fritz's writing on the fossil Bryozoa along with her research on the stratigraphy of Toronto and the surrounding areas were major contributions to the geological field.
Paleontology or palaeontology is the study of prehistoric life forms on Earth through the examination of plant and animal fossils. This includes the study of body fossils, tracks (ichnites), burrows, cast-off parts, fossilised feces (coprolites), palynomorphs and chemical residues. Because humans have encountered fossils for millennia, paleontology has a long history both before and after becoming formalized as a science. This article records significant discoveries and events related to paleontology that occurred or were published in the year 2015.
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.
Mesotrypa is a genus of bryozoans known from the Ordovician period, first described in 1893. Its colonies consist of low masses, wider than they are thick, made of superimposed layers, with small monticules on 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.
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.
Cyphotrypa is an extinct genus of Ordovician bryozoan. Its colonies form hemispherical shapes, with flat undersides and rounded tops. In cross-section, the zooecia fan out from the initial growth area and intersect the rounded top surface of the colony at right angles. A few scattered maculae are present, composed of a few zooecia larger than the others with mesopore-like apertures.
Monticuliporidae is a family of bryozoans belonging to the order Trepostomata, characterized by branching, encrusting, or massive colonies with regularly spaced bumps on their surfaces. It is one of the earliest bryozoan families to arise, known from the early Ordovician period, but disappears from the fossil record after the late Silurian period. Monticuliporidae had a widespread geographical range and many genera had cosmopolitan distribution.
Nicholsonella is an extinct genus of bryozoans of uncertain taxonomic placement. Its colonies can take the forms of thick branching masses or branches.
Diploclema is an extinct genus of bryozoan belonging to the monotypic family Dipoclemidae, found from the Middle Ordovician to the Middle Silurian. It has pear-shaped autozooecia which grow in a biradial pattern, and its colonies have a dichotomously branching shape. Its laminated exterior wall possesses a prismatic structure, which is unique among the cyclostome bryozoans.
Moyerella is an extinct genus of bryozoan of the family Arthrostylidae, known from the Upper Ordovician and Lower Silurian periods. Its colonies are branching or segmented, generally articulated (jointed). Its autozooecia are short tubes that appear triangular in cross section within the endozone, bending abruptly when reaching the exozone. The autozooecial apertures are round and aligned into diagonal rows, and paired heterozooecia occur between the autozooecial apertures.
Lichenalia is an extinct genus of cystoporate bryozoan belonging to the family Rhinoporidae. It is known from the Upper Ordovician to the Middle Silurian periods, which spanned from approximately 460 to 430 million years ago. The genus had a cosmopolitan distribution, with fossil specimens found in various regions of the world, including North America, Europe, and Asia.
Dybowskites is an extinct genus of bryozoan of the family Ralfimartitidae, found in the Ordovician and Silurian periods. It forms branching, frond-like, or sometimes segmented colonies. In cross-sections of the colonies, the tubular autozooecia are seen growing alongside the branch axis and then bending abruptly to reach the colony surface at a perpendicular angle. There are many mesozooecia and large acanthostyles that protrude from the colony surface.
Francisca Wieser, also known as Frances A. Wieser, or Francesca Wieser was an American scientific illustrator, drafter, artist, and photographic assistant. She worked for the United States Geological Survey, and the United States National Museum from 1911 to 1929 with the title of "paleontologic draftsman". She was known for her drawings of fossils.
