Woodipora Jullien, 1888

Taylor, Paul D., Martha, Silviu O. & Gordon, Dennis P., 2018, Synopsis of ‘ onychocellid’ cheilostome bryozoan genera, Journal of Natural History (J. Nat. Hist.) 52 (25 - 26), pp. 1657-1721 : 1709-1710

Genus Woodipora Jullien, 1888

( Figure 35 )

Type species

Flustra holostoma Wood, 1844 , by original designation (given as Membranipora holostoma Wood by Jullien 1888, p. 78). Pliocene, Coralline Crag Formation, Suffolk, England, United Kingdom.

Diagnosis

Colony encrusting ( Figure 35 (a)). Autozooids rounded hexagonal; zooidal boundaries raised with medial groove. Cryptocyst extensive, granular, pierced by a pair of elliptical opesiules with long axes oriented distolaterally ( Figure 35 (b)). Gymnocyst lacking. Opesia terminal, occupying about one-third of frontal surface; rounded semicircular, lacking opesiular indentations or lateral constrictions. Ovicells immersed ( Schubert 1986, p. 7, fig. 3). Avicularia vicarious, symmetrical ( Figure 35 (c)), slightly smaller than an autozooid; opesia elongate, inverted pear shaped; rostrum short, distally rounded, floor pustulose.

Remarks

Woodipora differs from all other genera described here in having opesiules in the cryptocyst. For this reason, Jullien (1888) placed it in his family Opesiulidae Jullien, 1888 , while noting its resemblance to onychocellids. The genus has also been placed in Thalamoporellidae Levinsen, 1902 ( Canu and Bassler 1920; Bassler 1953), an action lacking any reasonable justification. Apart from the Pliocene type species, three Late Cretaceous and one Miocene species were listed in the genus by Bock (2017). Some of the Cretaceous species of Onychocella placed in Woodipora (e.g. Onychocella mimosa Brydone, 1930 ) by Voigt (1967) and Schubert (1986) are perhaps better retained in Onychocella based on differences in avicularian morphology between them and the Pliocene type species ( Koromyslova 2014, p. 282). They do, however, demonstrate the potential for the independent acquisition of opesiules in onychocellids. Parallels are to be found in other groups of anascans with extensive cryptocysts (see Di Martino and Taylor 2012; p. 18; Matsuyama et al. 2017). The putative Middle Miocene species of Woodipora , W. aggaraensis Abbas & El-Senoussi, 1979 from the Western Desert, Egypt, cannot be evaluated from the published figures.

The morphology of the avicularia supports provisional retention of Woodipora in Onychocellidae . For example, they have comma-shaped condyles closely resembling those of Onychocella (compare Figures 1 (b) and 35(c)).

Range

?Middle Miocene to Early Pliocene.

Figures

Figure 1. Onychocella angulosa (Reuss). (a–c) Recent, Madeira, NHMUK 1911.10.1.640; (a) group of autozooids and avicularia; (b) avicularium; (c) two ovicellate autozooids (arrowed), two non-ovicellate autozooids and an avicularium. (d)–(f) Middle Miocene (Badenian), St Margarethen, Burgenland, Austria, NHMUK BZ 8212 (Pitt Collection); (d) group of autozooids and avicularia; (e) avicularium; (f) early astogeny with ancestrula at centre. Scale bars: a, d, f = 500 µm; b, c, e = 200 µm.

Figure 35. Woodipora holostoma (Wood); holotype,NHMUK B1639.(a) Part of colony with growing edge at the top left; (b) autozooids and two avicularia; (c) avicularium. Scale bars: a = 1 mm; b = 500 µm; c = 200 µm.