Family MAWATARIIDAE Gordon, 1990

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• Mawatariidae Gordon, D.P. 1990. The Tertiary bryozoan family Prostomariidae - morphology and relationships. Memoirs of the National Museum of Victoria, Melbourne 50: 467-472 [471].

Introduction

The family Mawatariidae was defined by Gordon (1990) for the single new genus Mawatarius. The type species, M. inexpectabilis (Gordon, 1985), originally described as a species of the genus Prostomaria, was collected from a depth of 1170 m on the Kermadec Ridge north of Raoul Island. The species has subsequently been collected from a depth of 970 m., from the Norfolk Ridge, within the Australian EEZ (Gordon & Arnold 1998).

The colonies are erect with few branches, developing from an ancestrula attached to the substrate by a cuticular stem, with thin uniserial branches. The zooids on a branch face in a single direction, and have a pseudoporous frontal shield. The primary orifice has a small sinus, and is surmounted by a peristome with a proximal notch (pseudosinus). The ovicell is peristomial.

Gordon (1990) described the similarities of colony form and zooidal calcification with the Australian Miocene species Prostomaria gibbericollis MacGillivray, which is biserial and lacks ovicells. The species Vix vagans (Thornely) is also similar, but the branches are quadriserial and avicularia are present. There are thus a group of cryptocystidean families of erect bryozoans, each containing few genera and families, but whose relationships with each other are still obscure. In addition to the families Mawatariidae, Prostomariidae, and Vicidae, this group also includes the families Margarettidae, Porinidae, Phorioppniidae and the Tetraplariidae.

Diagnosis

Colony erect, uniserial, branching, non-segmented, the zooids facing mainly on one aspect. Frontal wall cryptocystidean, with scattered pores. Primary orifice sunken, with shallow sinus; secondary (peristomial) orifice with pseudosinus. No oral spines. No avicularia. Ovicell peristomial. Ancestrula resembling later zooids, anchored by a chitinous portion. (Gordon, 1990).

General References

Gordon, D.P. 1985. Additional species and records of Gymnolaemate Bryozoa from the Kermadec region. Records of the New Zealand Oceanographic Institute 4(14): 160-183

Gordon, D.P. 1990. The Tertiary bryozoan family Prostomariidae - morphology and relationships. Memoirs of the National Museum of Victoria, Melbourne 50: 467-472

Gordon, D.P. & Arnold, P.W. 1998. Bryorachis (Phidoloporidae) and Retelepralia (Cheiloporinidae): two new genera of Indo-Pacific Bryozoa. Memoirs of the Queensland Museum 42: 495-503

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