Etherella, Crockford, 1957

Ernst, Andrej, 2016, Bryozoan fauna from the Permian (Artinskian-Kungurian) Zhongba Formation of southwestern Tibet, Palaeontologia Electronica (1946) 51 (9), pp. 1-59 : 20

Genus ETHERELLA Crockford, 1957

Type species. Etherella porosa Crockford, 1957 . Lower Permian, Noonkanbah Formation (Artinskian-Kungurian) ; Western Australia.

Diagnosis. Reticulate colonies formed by fused branches; branches bifoliate, lenticular, rounded, or oval in transverse section; fenestrules circular to oval. Mesotheca consisting of granular-prismatic material, straight; median tubules present. Autozooecia tubular, with rounded to elongate apertures, rhombically arranged on branches, lacking on lateral sides of branches; subquadrate, trapezoid to subhemispherical in transverse section at mesotheca; angular shaped in deep tangential section in mid exozone and isolated by vesicles and extrazooecial skeleton. Long and thin hook-shaped superior hemisepta present, curved proximally, club-shaped. Lunaria absent. Vesicular skeleton scarcely developed; vesicles small, blister-like, low to moderately high with flat to rounded roofs, polygonal in tangential section. Autozooecial walls granular-prismatic, with dark median zone continuous into boundary zone in mesotheca. Extrazooecial skeleton well-developed, displaying cloudy structure; acanthostyles absent. Monticules absent.

Remarks. Etherella Crockford, 1957 differs from Liguloclema Crockford, 1957 in having reticulate colonies instead of narrow belt-shaped type in Liguloclema . Etherella differs from Wysejacksonella Ernst and Gorgij, 2013 by the club-shaped hemisepta vs. blunt hemisepta representing buckling of the autozooecial wall at the transition between endo- and exozone in Wysejacksonella . Furthermore, Etherella possesses median tubules in mesotheca.

Occurrence. Lower Permian of Australia and Tibet, Upper Permian of the Russian Far East.