Lakkella, Ernst & Senowbari-Daryan & Hamedani, 2006

Ernst, Andrej, Senowbari-Daryan, Baba & Hamedani, Ali, 2006, Middle Permian Bryozoa from the Lakaftari area, northeast of Esfahan (central Iran), Geodiversitas 28 (4), pp. 543-590 : 574

Lakkella n. gen.

TYPE SPECIES. — Lakkella jamalica n. sp.

ETYMOLOGY. — The genus name derives from Greek “λακκος”, pit, hole, and suffix “- ella ”. The name refers to the presence of pit-like heterozooecia (“leptozooecia”).

OCCURRENCE. — Lakaftari: central Iran, Jamal Formation, Middle Permian.

DIAGNOSIS. — Branched colony with 4-6 rows of short tubular autozooecia opening on the one side. Autozooecia elongated oval to slightly rectangular in deep tangential section with well developed vestibule. Autozooecial apertures oval to lens-shaped. Thin ridges between apertures. Single leptozooecium and small acanthostyle in the wall between apertures longitudinally; rare smaller styles between apertures. Inner granular skeleton hyaline, well developed; outer lamellar skeleton relatively thick.

COMPARISON

The new genus is superficially similar to Streblocladia Crockford, 1944 . However, it differs in having acanthostyles and only one heterozooecium between apertures. Streblocladia is known from Upper Carboniferous to Lower Permian (Sakmarian) of Western Australia. Crockford (1944b) did not illustrate the interior morphology, so that a closer comparison is impossible. Lakkella n. gen. is also similar to Rhombocladia Rogers, 1900 , Chainodictyon Foerste, 1887 and Kallodictyon Morozova, 1981 , especially in apertural shape, arrangement of autozooecia, and presence of acanthostyles. However, it differs in colony form and autozooecial shape.