Family TUBULIPORIDAE Johnston, 1838

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Family TUBULIPORIDAE Johnston, 1838

Compiler and date details

July 2001 - Dr Philip Bock

Introduction

The family Tubuliporidae was introduced by Johnston (1838).

The two principal genera included within the family have little in common with each other in colony form. Colonies may be encrusting or erect, with the peristomes opening on the frontal surface. Zooids may grouped into longitudinal or oblique connate rows, or with each distal portion separated from its neighbours. The distal peristome of each zooid. may rise as an delicate erect tube. Gonozooids are on the frontal surface as inflated expansions, occupying the area between a group of zooids, or larger, and growing around several zooids. The ooeciostome is a small tubular extension, either attached to a zooid or separate, with a simple circular or flanged orifice. The surface of zooids and gonozooid are pierced by numerous pseudopores. In fact, the degree of variation in characters among members conventionally assigned to the family leads to the suspicion that detailed study may eventually prove it to be an artificial grouping.

The genus Tubulipora Lamarck (1816) has the type species of Millepora liliacea Pallas 1776. Colonies are encrusting, and typically spread from the ancestrula as one or several elongate or rounded lobes. The variation in characters of the zooids and gonozooids described above is shown among the various species of this genus, so that the main common feature is the growth form, which is normally accepted as an unreliable feature for systematic analysis. Several species have been described from Australia, particularly by MacGillivray (1885). These are T. pulchra, T. concinna, T. connata, T. clavata, and T. lucida. T. pulchra was figured by Bock (1982), but all the local forms need detailed investigation and revision. Tubulipora species are also common in Antarctica. Colonies are found from shallow to deep water, encrusting algae, shells, rocks or other similar substrata.

The genus Idmidronea Canu & Bassler (1920) forms erect colonies with encrusting basal portions, typically forming long narrow branches, with the zooids opening on the frontal surface, and a layer of kenozooids forming the basal surface. The zooids form in connate rows radiating obliquely from the midline of the branch, usually with elongate peristomes. Gonozooids are located centrally on the frontal surface of the branches, and are elongate, extending between several rows of zooids. The gonozooid is a small tube, towards the distal end of the gonozooid, but the orifice form is variable. Several species of Idmidronea have been identified from Australia, of which many are local records of species first described overseas, such as I. atlantica (Forbes in Johnston 1847) and I. marionensis (Busk 1875); these records have not yet been verified. I. parasitica (Busk 1875) and I. australis MacGillivray 1882 are based upon Australian material, but need re-examination.

The Antarctic fauna of erect tubuliporates is diverse. Five species were assigned to the genus Idmidronea and two to the genus Exidmonea by Ostrovsky & Taylor (1996). Exidmonea David, Mongereau & Pouyet, 1972, includes erect forms lacking a kenozooidal layer on the basal surface of the branches.

The earliest known fossil tubuliporids have been recorded from the Late Cretaceous of Sweden (Taylor 1993); fossils are also known from Tertiary sediments in southern Australia.

Diagnosis

Colony moderately to well calcified, encrusting or arising into erect lobes, sometimes with a basal layer of kenozooids. Zooids with pseudopores, arranged in connate rows, with peristomes separated from each other. Gonozooids either interspersed between autozooids, or larger, growing around several zooids; ooeciostome small, distal and tubular.