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.
Adeona is a genus of bryozoans in the family Adeonidae. A typical example is the Australian species Adeona cellulosa that forms large colonies with bifoliate sheets containing numerous holes (fenestrae).
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.
Cheilostomatida, also called Cheilostomata, is an order of Bryozoa in the class Gymnolaemata.
Brachiozoa is a grouping of lophophorate animals including Brachiopoda and Phoronida. It also includes their ancestors, the extinct tommotiids.
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.
Paralicornia hamata is a species of gymnolaematan bryozoans first described from the Queensland coast. Originally placed in the genus Scrupocellaria, it has now been accepted within Paralicornia.
Licornia prolata is a species of gymnolaematan bryozoans first described from the Queensland coast. Originally placed in Scrupocellaria, it has now been accepted within Licornia.
Licornia peltata is a species of gymnolaematan bryozoans first described from the Queensland coast. Originally placed in Scrupocellaria, it has now been accepted within Licornia.
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.
Acoraniidae is a family of bryozoans belonging to the order Cheilostomatida. It was introduced in order to accommodate the new genus Acorania which did not fit, at the time, in any of the described cheilostomes. It was discovered during a deep-water expedition in September 1998 at the Enmedio volcano off the coast of the Canary Islands. Both the family Acoraniidae and the genus Acorania are derived from the name Acoran, a name of Achamán, the supreme god of the Guanches, the native inhabitants of the Canary Islands.
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.
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.
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.
Laxifenestella is an extinct genus of bryozoans of the family Fenestellidae, found from the Devonian period to the Permian 412.3 to 254.0 million years ago. The genus colonies consist of a mesh of mostly straight branches in a fan-like or funnel-like shape. There are several species belonging to the Laxifenestella genus being L. borealis, L. texana, L. contracta, L. exserta, L. firma, L. morozova, L. lahuseni, L. oviferorsa, L. sarytshevae, L. stuchugorensis and L. stuckenbergi. Parent taxon of this genus is Fenestellidae with siste taxons being Alternifenestella, Minilya, Spinofenestella. Fossils of the laxifenestella genus in the permian period are found in Australia, Canada, Iran, Omen, Pakistan, and Russia. Fossils from the Carboniferous period are found in spain with Devonian period fossils being found in the Czech Republic. In total there are 22 fossils belonging to the Laxifenestella genus.
Fistuliphragma is an extinct genus of cystoporate bryozoans of the family Fistuliporidae that lived in the Devonian period. Its colonies could have branched or encrusting forms, with hollow tubular branches in the case of the branched form, and possessed a well-developed vesicular skeleton. Its autozooecia possessed prominent lunaria and hemiphragms. The genus is distinct from Cliotrypa and Strotopora because of the absence of gonozooecia.
Kukersella is an extinct genus of bryozoan of the family Crownoporidae, known from the Ordovician period. Its colonies consist of cylindrical branches growing from an encrusting base.
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.
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.
