First fossil occurrence of the austral bryozoan family Urceoliporidae 

Gordon, D. P. 

2000 

 

 

Article in journal 

The cheilostome bryozoan family Urceoliporidae has not previously been discovered in the fossil record, hitherto comprising only three Recent species in two genera from Australia and New Zealand. Urceolipora miocenica n. sp. is described from the Pakaurangi Formation, Waitemata Group, from Pakaurangi Point, Kaipara Harbour, New Zealand. Thus, both families of the superfamily Urceoliporoidea (Urceoliporidae and Prostomariidae) are now known from the Early Miocene. The new species is made the type of a new subgenus, Cureolipora, chiefly distinguished from Urceolipora sensu stricto by the lack of a longitudinal ridge dividing the frontal shield into two sectors, and also by the lack of an orificial sinus and lateraloral horns. More than 215 species of Bryozoa are now known to occur in the New Zealand Miocene, more than half of which are undescribed. 

 

miocenica; O 1080 Multi-disciplinary Studies; Zealand; Animal; Animal fossils; morphology; Article Taxonomic Terms: Cureolipora; Urceoliporidae; New taxa; Urceolipora; Article Geographic Terms: New; Biogeophysical; Q1 01187 Palaeontology; Bryozoans; Miocene; Bryozoa; Article Subject Terms: New species