Patricia L. Cook

Petraliellidae Harmer, 1957 (Bryozoa: Cheilostomata) from Queensland, Australia

Abstract Several species of the family Petraliellidae were first described from the coast of Queensland, including the type species of Sinupetraliella, S. litoralis. These species are redescribed from type, or topotype specimens, and include Petraliella concinna, which has not been certainly found since its introduction in 1891; lectotype material is designated for P. buski and P. magna. Six other species are described from Queensland, P. crassocirca, P. dentilabris, P. dorsiporosa, Mucropetraliella bennetti, M. serrata and M. tuberosa. The species Mucropetraliella tuberosa is a new addition to the Queensland fauna and is described and illustrated here for the first time since its introduction in 1884. The characters of the family Petraliellidae are briefly discussed and the genera to which the Queensland species are assigned is reviewed. A taxonomic key to the ten Queensland petraliellid species described is also provided.

Calescharidae, a new family for the tertiary to recent genera Caleschara MacGillivray and Tretosina Canu & Bassler (Bryozoa : Cheilostomata)

A new family of Cheilostomata, the Calescharidae, is introduced for the genusCaleschara MacGillivray and its Recent Australian typespecies, C. denticulata(MacGillivray), which isredefined from type and other material. The Australian Tertiary genusTretosina Canu & Bassler and its type species,T. arcifera Canu & Bassler, are closely related,and are also assigned to the Calescharidae. The history and significance offamily attributions of both genera are outlined, and RecentC. denticulata from Australian and other localities isdistinguished from the Late Tertiary Victorian speciesC. parva Maplestone.Caleschara lithconis, sp. nov., from the Late Eocene ofVictoria is one of the earliest known species: its morphology closelyresembles a Recent form from the Philippines,C. junctifera Canu & Bassler. Another Recentspecies, Caleschara minuta (Maplestone) from the GilbertIslands, is a senior synonym of three other Indo-Pacific species,C. levinseni Harmer, C. laxa Canu & Bassler and Floridinella arculifera Canu & Bassler, and resembles the European PaleoceneC. squamosa. Three other related species are brieflydiscussed. Close relationships to other families are problematic and arediscussed; divergence in the early history of the cheilostomes is inferred.

First fossil finds of some Australian Bryozoa (Cheilostomata)

The abundant fossil record of well-preserved Bryozoa in samples from the Tertiary of Victoria and South Australia includes some ‘first fossil finds’ which are recorded here. Several are of species known from the Recent of the Australian or Indo-West-Pacific regions, but some represent genera with a much wider temporal and geographical range. Of the 11 species illustrated, six are known, or may be inferred, to have inhabited ‘sand fauna’ environments. Specimens of one species are complete enough to allow its formal description as Chlidoniopsis inopina sp. nov.

Quadriscutella gen. nov. (Bryozoa, Cheilostomata) from the Tertiary and Recent of Victoria and South Australia

Quadriscutella gen. nov. is introduced for Q. papillata sp. nov., an erect, branching, nodal Recent species from South Australia, belonging to a complex of forms which is otherwise known only from Tertiary localities in Victoria and South Australia. The species complex, members of which have usually been known as ‘Hippoporina burlingtoniensis’, has been analysed and found to comprise five taxa: Q. papillata sp. nov., the Recent form, together with Q. burlingtoniensis (Waters) sensu stricto, Q. costata (Maplestone), Q. clavata (Maplestone), and Q. punctata sp. nov., all of which are known only as Tertiary fossils. The morphology of Quadriscutella has similarities with that of both Tropidozoum Harmer (1957) and Neoeuthryis Bretnall (1921), and the genus is therefore assigned with them to the family Euthyrisellidae Bassler.

Pachystomaria parvipuncta MacGillivray, a ‘sand fauna’ bryozoan species from the Tertiary of Victoria

Pachystomaria parvipuncta MacGillivray is redescribed for the first time since its original introduction, from additional material from the Victorian Tertiary. Colonies are inferred to have been attached by rhizoids. The probable systematic relationships of Pachystomaria are briefly discussed.

Chasmazoon gen. nov., a new genus of ascophoran bryozoan for Cellepora abdita MacGillivray, from the Tertiary of Victoria

The genus Chasmazoon is introduced for Cellepora abdita MacGillivray (1895) from the Tertiary of Victoria. Chasmazoon abditum has colonies capable of both an encrusting and free-living mode of growth, and the latter were probably anchored by basal rhizoids. The large, simple orifices and striated, peristomial ovicells of C. abditum are distinctive, and Stichoporina parvicapitata Canu & Bassler (1935), which has closely similar characters, is considered to be synonymous.

Catenariopsis morningtoniensis Maplestone (Bryozoa, Anasca) — a Tertiary chaperiid from Victoria

The bryozoan genus Catenariopsis was introduced for a single zooid of C. morningtoniensis Maplestone 1899, from the Tertiary of Victoria; subsequent material has been scanty and reported only once. The genus has been classified with the ascophoran family Catenicellidae and the anascan family Alysidiidae. Examination of relatively well preserved additional material from the Miocene of Victoria has shown that C. morningtoniensis may be assigned to the anascan family Chaperiidae. Catenariopsis is apparently closely related to the Recent genus Icelozoon of Antarctica and New Zealand.