Erect bifoliate species of Microporella (Bryozoa, Cheilostomata), fossil and modern Author Martino, Emanuela Di A7905C48-FF37-4D27-BCCE-F0560AF040A2 Natural History Museum, University of Oslo, Norway. e.d.martino@nhm.uio.no Author Taylor, Paul D. 7AFF2929-DF5B-46B2-94E6-B26B396CC2C8 Departments of Earth and Life Sciences, Natural History Museum, London, United Kingdom. p.taylor@nhm.ac.uk Author Gordon, Dennis P. DD9C0F3A-8512-4AC8-B395-7687CE3FC565 National Institute of Water & Atmospheric Research, Wellington, New Zealand. dennis.gordon@niwa.co.nz text European Journal of Taxonomy 2020 2020-07-02 678 1 31 journal article 21572 10.5852/ejt.2020.678 57a241fd-5993-4064-b152-b00ee0a46e2a 3928412 C230401F-3AD1-43D8-9C82-1DEDF5CF40FD Microporella tanyae sp. nov. urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act: 324E8E55-E5FC-489A-843E-322D7F3A4FAB Figs 2–3 ; Table 2 Diagnosis Colony erect, bifoliate; branches broad. Autozooids rhomboidal. Frontal shield granular, sparsely pseudoporous. Orifice transVersely D-shaped; hingeline straight, smooth; oral spines lacking. Ascopore elliptical, opening crescentic with projecting tongue and radial spines. Avicularium single, placed level with ascopore, oriented distolaterally; crossbar complete; opesia semielliptical; rostrum channelled. Ovicells not personate. Etymology Named after Dr Tanya Knowles who collected the specimens in 2006. Material examined Holotype USA • Virginia , Chuckatuck ; 2006; Tanya Knowles leg.; Pliocene ; Upper Yorktown Formation ; NHMUK PI BZ 8890 ( Fig. 3 ). Other material USA • 1 specimen ; Virginia , lower York County , Krause Pit ; Edgar Campbell Col.; Pliocene ; Yorktown Formation ; USNM 387373 ( Fig. 2 ) . Description COLONY. Starting with an encrusting unilaminar and multiserial base, later becoming erect with bifoliate fronds up to several cm wide; interzooidal communication not observed. AUTOZOOIDS. Distinct, separated by narrow grooVes, rhomboidal, longer than wide (mean L/W = 1.39). Frontal shield moderately conVex, finely and densely granular; marginal areolae typically numbering about 10 (8–12), Variable in size ( 15–60 µm ), funnel-shaped, sometimes subdiVided internally; up to about eight non-marginal pseudopores, morphologically very similar to areolar pores, generally placed more centrally on the frontal shield at the same level as the avicularium or slightly below, irregularly spaced, sometimes internally subdivided. PRIMARY ORIfICE. Terminal, transversely D-shaped, widest medially, hingeline straight, smooth, without teeth or condyles; oral spines lacking; no peristome. ASCOPORE fIELD. A narrow, raised area of gymnocystal calcification beneath leVel of adjacent frontal shield but at approximately same leVel as orifice, located Very close to its hingeline; elliptical, ca 30– Fig. 2. Colony of Microporella tanyae sp. nov. USNM 387373, Pliocene, Yorktown Formation, Krause Pit, lower York County, Virginia, USA (Edgar Campbell Col.). Table 2. Measurements in µm of Microporella tanyae sp. nov. , Pliocene, Yorktown Formation, Virginia, USA; holotype NHMUK PI BZ 8890.

N (zooids, colonies)	Mean	SD	Min	Max
ZL	16, 1	526	±53	441	621
ZW	16, 1	378	±51	307	466
OL	12, 1	115	±5	106	122
OW	12, 1	142	±5	137	152
AvL	16, 1	130	±9	116	147
AvW	16, 1	94	±6	85	102
OvL	5, 1	250	±16	235	276
OvW	5, 1	349	±31	304	389

35 × 50–60 µm , distal margin with projecting, semielliptical tongue leaVing a crescent-shaped opening, ca 5–10 × 25–35 µm , with radial spines. AVICULARIUM. Single, located between level of ascopore and lateral corner of rhomboidal autozooid, oriented laterally to slightly distolaterally; crossbar complete; opesia semielliptical; rostrum subtriangular, channelled. Fig. 3. Microporella tanyae sp. nov. , holotype, NHMUK PI BZ 8890, Pliocene, Yorktown Formation, Virginia, USA. A . Group of ovicellate and non-ovicellate zooids. B . Close-up of an ovicell. C . Closeup of an autozooid. D . Close-up of the ascopore and avicularium with intramural buds. Scale bars: A = 400 µm; B–C = 200 µm; C = 200 µm; D = 40 µm. OVICELL. Prominent, circular in outline, not personate and not obscuring orifice; calcification similar to frontal shield, impinging on aVicularium of distal autozooid; pseudopores Variable in number, confined to marginal areas. Remarks This extinct species was found in the Pliocene of Virginia . Although very similar to the Miocene Microporella bifoliata , the new Pliocene species shows slightly shorter but wider, and consequently squatter, autozooids with larger orifices, larger aVicularia and broader oVicells. Additionally, the rostrum in M. tanyae sp. nov. narrows distinctly immediately distal to the crossbar, which does not seem to be the case in M. bifoliata specimens, and the orifice seems to be more clearly D-shaped with the proximal margin somewhat straighter.