Rhamphostomella Lorenz, 1886

Grischenko, Andrei V., Gordon, Dennis P., Taylor, Paul D., Kuklinski, Piotr, Denisenko, Nina V., Spencer-Jones, Mary E. & Ostrovsky, Andrew N., 2022, Taxonomy, ecology and zoogeography of the Recent species of Rhamphostomella Lorenz, 1886 and Mixtoscutella n. gen. (Bryozoa, Cheilostomata), Zootaxa 5131 (1), pp. 1-115 : 6

Genus Rhamphostomella Lorenz, 1886

Type species: Eschara scabra Fabricius, 1824 .

Rhamphostomella Lorenz 1886, p. 11 ; Osburn 1952, p. 424; Kluge 1962, p. 535; 1975, p. 650.

Revised diagnosis. Colony encrusting, multiserial, unilaminar, or erect-bilamellar with encrusting part attached to substratum. Frontal shield umbonuloid, with marginal areolae except around distal margin. Primary orifice with or without lyrula and condyles. Oral spines present or absent. Secondary orifice cormidial. Peristome present or absent. Suboral avicularium always present; additional adventitious and large vicarious avicularia present in some species. Ovicell hyperstomial; with age, ooecium becoming less prominent, being covered by secondary calcification in some species. Ooecium formed by distal autozooid, ectooecium pseudoporous. Multiporous septula present in transverse zooidal walls, mural pore chambers in lateral walls. Basal zooidal wall fully calcified, with or without protuberances. Ancestrula tatiform in species where it has been observed, its basal wall sometimes with non-calcified window.

Remarks. Many authors have described or mentioned species of Rhamphostomella , and it was practically impossible to trace all previously reported specimens and corroborate their identifications. We made the list of “Additional references” following each synonymy as complete as we could but stress that nominal records lacking a description and/or illustrations (as often happens, for example, in faunal lists) may have been misidentified, which could in turn affect to some extent inferences of geographical distribution.