Coronula Lamarck, 1802

Buckeridge, John Stewart, Chan, Benny K. K. & Lee, Shih-Wei, 2018, Accumulations of Fossils of the Whale Barnacle Coronula bifida Bronn, 1831 (Thoracica: Coronulidae) Provides Evidence of a Late Pliocene Cetacean Migration Route through the Straits of Taiwan, Zoological Studies 57 (54), pp. 1-12 : 4

Coronula Lamarck, 1802

Diagnosis: Shell comprising six compartments of equal size, walls thin, deeply folded, with folds forming cavities, open basally; radii wide; body chamber relatively small, cup-shaped; opercular valves, paired terga and scuta, diminished in size, not articulated, together much smaller than the orifice; orifice of body chamber wider than basal opening; basis membranous. Attached to whales.

Remarks: The number of species in Coronula is now somewhat reduced from the seven listed in Newman and Ross (1976). Of the three in Darwin’s 1854a monographs, only Coronula diadema ( Linnaeus, 1767) and Coronula reginae Darwin, 1854a remain. Coronula balaenaris ( Gmelin, 1791) has been assigned to Cetopirus complanatus ( Mörch, 1853) , and Coronula barbara Darwin, 1854a , is now regarded as Coronula bifida - a possibility that was contemplated by Darwin himself - see Darwin 1854a: 40 ( Menesini 1968). Species proposed since Darwin include Coronula ficarazzensis De Gregorio, 1895 - now likely to be Cetopirus ( Collareta et al. 2018a: 13) , Coronula dormitor Pilsbry & Olsson, 1951 , is Coronula bifida , and Coronula macsotayi Weisbord, 1971 , is now considered Coronula diadema ( Bianucci et al. 2006a b). This leaves two taxa from the antipodes, both fossil, and both defined by isolated plates: Coronula aotea Fleming, 1959 and Coronula intermedia Buckeridge, 1983 . Both of these species are likely to have had a lower profile shell than Coronula bifida or Coronula diadema , to lie somewhat intermediate between these and C. reginae , or perhaps Cetopirus . Even with these later additions, only five species (i.e. † C. aotea , † C. bifida , C. diadema , † C. intermedia , and C. reginae ) are currently assigned to Coronula . Those with † are known only as fossil, C. diadema has a record from Pliocene to Recent.

Distribution: Cosmopolitan, on whales. Pliocene to Recent.