RESUMO
The Pirabas Formation in Brazil has been studied for many years and a great diversity of animal groups (in particular fishes, molluscs and echinoderms) have been described from there, whereas the Bryozoa have scarcely been mentioned. New samples, collected specifically to focus on bryozoans, have shown that the diversity in this formation is higher than previously thought. Here we describe two new species belonging to the cheilostomate genus Hippopleurifera--H. barbosae sp. nov. and H. confusa sp. nov. Both species were collected at Atalaia Beach, northeastern Pará state, which boasts some of the best marine Cenozoic fossil outcrops in Brazil. After accounting for all described species, plus the two new species and four generic reassignments (new combinations) described herein, some 29 Hippopleurifera species are now known. Most of these are fossils from Europe or the USA, but a handful are known from the Recent Mediterranean, Caribbean and Indo-West Pacific.
Assuntos
Briozoários/anatomia & histologia , Briozoários/classificação , Fósseis/anatomia & histologia , Animais , Brasil , Briozoários/ultraestrutura , Microscopia Eletrônica de Varredura , Especificidade da EspécieRESUMO
Pirabasoporella gen. nov. is introduced for three new bryozoan species from the Early Miocene of the tropical western Atlantic. The genus is placed in the family Jaculinidae Zabala, a peculiar group of cheilostome bryozoans characterised by reticulate colonies formed by uni- or biserial branches that are connected by kenozooidal struts. This colonial morphology superficially resembles colonies of the Paleozoic order Fenestrata (Stenolaemata) and some Recent Cyclostomata. As jaculinid colonies are anchored to soft sediments via rhizoids, however, they differ in life habit from Paleozoic and modern fenestrate colonies, which are firmly attached to stable substrata by an encrusting base. The three new species are Pirabasoporella atalaiaensis n. sp. from the Brazilian Pirabas Formation, Pirabasoporella baitoae n. sp. from the Baitoa Formation (Dominican Republic), and Pirabasoporella chipolae n. sp. from the Floridan Chipola Formation. Their presence in the Early Miocene western Atlantic represents the earliest record of Jaculinidae, and suggests that the origin of the family, the only living species of which are known from the eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean Sea, extends well into the Paleogene. The Jaculinidae is here transferred from the lepraliomorph superfamily Schizoporelloidea Jullien to the umbonulomorph Lepralielloidea Vigneaux owing to the partly umbonuloid frontal shield and non-schizoporelloid ovicell.