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Family CYCLICOPORIDAE Hincks, 1884


Compiler and date details

July 2001 - Dr Philip Bock

Introduction

Hincks (1884) introduced the family Cyclicoporidae for a monospecific new genus, Cyclicopora, from Port Phillip, Victoria. Hincks's species C. praelonga is a junior synonym of Lepralia longipora MacGillivray (1883) from. the same locality. In the Prodromus volume, MacGillivray (1886) later placed Hincks's C. praelonga in synonymy with C. longipora. Bock (1982) figured Victorian material, and noted that the species was quite common.

Colonies of C. longipora form greyish-white, shining encrustations on shells, rocks and other bryozoans and are characterised by their long autozooids and large rounded orifices. The frontal shield is pierced by numerous pseudopores, except for the area around the orifice, which is slightly raised and imperforate. The ovicells are large, hyperstomial and may be elongate or globular; their frontal calcification is pierced by minute pores and is tuberculate. The orifice of the ovicelled zooids variously larger than that of the autozooids. Bock (1982) figured ovicells with a wide, short orifice, but those figured by Hincks (1884) and MacGillivray (1883, 1886) were rounder. Avicularia are absent.

C. longipora has been reported to occur from California to the Galapagos by Osburn (1952), who figured zooids with an almost circular orifice, and mentioned erect branching colonies, unlike those of Australian C. longipora. Erect bilaminar colonies were also described by Canu & Bassler (1929) in a species of Cyclicopora they described from the Hokkaido region, Japan, as Monoporella ? waipukurensis (Waters). The family has no Australian fossil record, although a specimen from New Zealand has been identified as C. longipora (Brown 1952).

 

Diagnosis

Colony moderately calcified, encrusting, zooids very long with large rounded orifices. The frontal shield is lepralioid, and has numerous pseudopores. Avicularia are absent. Ovicells are very large, hyperstomial and globular. The frontal calcification is porous and tuberculate.

 

History of changes

Note that this list may be incomplete for dates prior to September 2013.
Published As part of group Action Date Action Type Compiler(s)
25-Mar-2014 BRYOZOA Ehrenberg, 1831 25-Mar-2014 MODIFIED Dr Robin Wilson (NMV) Elizabeth Greaves (NMV)
12-Feb-2010 (import)