Ditaxiporinae Stach, 1935

Vieira, Leandro M., Gordon, Dennis P. & Correia, Monica D., 2007, First record of a living ditaxiporine catenicellid in the Atlantic, with a description of Vasignyella ovicellata n. sp. (Bryozoa), Zootaxa 1582 (1), pp. 49-58 : 51

Subfamily Ditaxiporinae Stach, 1935

Diagnosis. Colony erect, jointed, comprising sterile internodes that are mostly multizooidal and biserial, rarely unizooidal in part or all of the colony; fertile internodes always multizooidal and biserial. Frontal shield varied; multi-costate, or mostly with vestigial suboral costae so that there is an extensive gymnocyst, typically foraminate; or the gymnocyst reduced owing to expansion of pore-chambers frontally so that most of the shield is effectively cryptocystal. Ovicells likewise variable, ectooecium well-developed, smooth, with a suture or foramina, or ectooecium reduced, exposing extensive granular endooecium. Dorsal surface of zooids smooth or with pore-chambers variably developed. Avicularia typically lateral-oral and mostly with complete cross-bar.

Remarks. Stach (1933, 1934, 1935) subdivided the Catenicellidae into several subfamilies, basing them primarily on the position of the ovicell within the segment. He named five subfamilies — Vittaticellinae Stach, 1933, Scuticellinae Stach, 1934, Catenicellinae Stach, 1935, Cornuticellinae Stach, 1935, and Ditaxiporinae Stach, 1935 . Additionally, Cheetham (1963) introduced a new family-rank taxon, Ditaxiporinidae . Gordon & Braga (1994) commented on these arrangements, synonymising some. They regarded biseriality (i.e., multizooidal) as having more fundamental significance within the family than the position of the ovicell (or the morphology of the frontal shield), which they interpret as having differentiated within different lineages later. For these reasons they subsumed the Ditaxiporinidae into the Ditaxiporinae .