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.
Iberostomata fombuenensis is an extinct species of bryozoans which existed in what is now Spain during the Katian period. It was named by Andrea Jiménez-Sánchez, Robert L. Anstey and Beatriz Azanka in 2010, and is the only species in the genus Iberostomata.
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 2012.
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.
Helen Margaret Duncan was a geologist and paleontologist with the United States Geological Survey from 1945 to 1971, where she worked in the Paleontology and Stratigraphy Branch. Duncan was considered one of the strongest women in the Cincinnati geology department; her contributions to the Lipalian Research Foundation and the Pick and Hammer shows were additional work of her time. Duncan paved the path for many geology scholars to follow with her discoveries on fossil records and her studies in paleontology and stratigraphy.
Chasmatopora is an extinct genus of bryozoans which existed in what is now Mongolia, China, Estonia, Russia, Poland, Argentina, the United States and Canada. It was described by Alcide d'Orbigny in 1849, and the type species is Chasmatopora tenella, which was originally described as a species of Retepora by Eichwald in 1842.
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.
Ceramopora is an extinct genus of bryozoan of the family Ceramoporidae. It is one of the earliest genera of bryozoans. Its colonies were thin and discoid, with large autozooecia, abundant communication pores, lunaria, and monticules with depressions in their centers. It had no acanthostyles or diaphragms, distinguishing it from Acanthoceramoporella.
Fenestella is a genus of bryozoans or moss animals, forming fan–shaped colonies with a netted appearance. It is known from the Middle Ordovician to the early Upper Triassic (Carnian), reaching its largest diversity during the Carboniferous. Many hundreds of species have been described from marine sediments all over the world.
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.
Septopora is an extinct genus of bryozoan belonging to the order Fenestrida. It has been found in Pennsylvanian to Permian beds in North America, South America, Australia, and southwest and east Asia.
Tabulipora is an extinct genus of bryozoan belonging to the order Trepostomida. It has been found in beds of Permian age in North America, Spitzbergen, South America, and Asia. Specimens typically form cylindrical branching colonies.
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.
Stenopora is an extinct genus of bryozoans first described in 1845, using material collected by Charles Darwin. Its colonies can be branching, frondescent, encrusting, or massive, and shapes display variation even within single colonies. Diaphragms are absent and acanthostyles of uniform size surround its zooecial apertures.
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.
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.
