Recent Brachiopoda from the Mozambique-Madagascar area, western Indian Ocean Author Bitner, Maria Aleksandra Institute of Paleobiology, Polish Academy of Sciences, ul. Twarda 51 / 55, 00 - 818 Warszaw (Poland) bitner @ twarda. pan. pl bitner@twarda.pan.pl Author Logan, Alan Centre for Coastal Studies, University of New Brunswick, Saint John, N. B., E 2 L 4 L 5 (Canada) logan @ unbsj. ca Published on 25 March 2016 logan@unbsj.ca text Zoosystema 2016 2016-03-31 38 1 5 41 http://dx.doi.org/10.5252/z2016n1a1 journal article 10.5252/z2016n1a1 1638-9387 4578148 urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:96BFE594-1B39-4541-9441-181617BD4CF9 Phaneropora galatheae Zezina, 1981 ( Fig. 15 ; Table 13 ) Phaneropora galatheae Zezina, 1981a: 18-19 , pl. 4, figs 1-7; 1985: 205; 1987: 560. — Foster 1989: 298 , fig. 14.29-14.30. — Laurin 1997: 449 , 450, figs 36A-D, 37. — Bitner 2008: 444, fig. 15A- F.; 2009: 16, fig. 9A. Leptothyrella cf. ignota – Hiller 1986: 137 , 138, fig. 19A-D. MATERIAL EXAMINED. — Mozambique Channel. MAINBAZA, stn CC 3152, 29 bivalved specimens. — Stn CC 3153, 4 bivalved specimens. — Stn CC 3154, 5 bivalved specimens. South Madagascar . ATIMO VATAE , stn DW 3515, 1 bivalved specimen. — Stn CP 3585, 10 bivalved specimens. — Stn CP 3592, 22 bivalved specimens, 1 ventral valve, 1 dorsal valve. — Stn CP 3615, 5 bivalved specimens. DEPTH RANGE . — 184- 636 m . MEASUREMENTS. — See Table 13. REMARKS The subfamily Phaneroporinae is represented by two genera, the monospecific genus Phaneropora Zezina, 1981 and Leptothyrella Muir-Wood, 1959 having three species, L. ignota , L. incerta , and L. fijiensis . Both genera are very similar exter- nally but clearly differ internally. In Phaneropora there is a gap between the crura and septal pillar ( Zezina 1981a , 1987 ; Bitner 2008) whereas Leptothyrella has continuous descending branches attached to the septum (Muir-Wood 1959; Logan 1983 , 1998 ; Álvarez & Emig 2005 ; Bitner 2008). Thus, the presence or absence of descending branches constitute the main criterion for separating those genera ( MacKinnon & Lee 2006b ; see also discussion in Bitner 2008: 444). Phaneropora galatheae has already been reported from the Madagascar region ( Hiller 1986 ; Zezina 1987 ). It is a small species, weakly biconvex with a smooth surface. Its foramen is large, margined by two, narrow deltidial plates; beak ridges are distinctly tuberculate ( Fig. 15F, H ). The teeth are supported by short dental plates ( Fig. 15I ). The flattened area at the extremity of each crura is interpreted as the rudiment of a descending branch ( Fig. 15L, M ).