lace bryozoan
Polypora sp.
Permian293.5–259.5 Ma
- Catalogue
- FA-0108
- Phylum
- Bryozoa
- Class
- Stenolaemata
- Order
- Fenestrida
- Family
- Polyporidae
- Locality
- South coast, New South Wales
- Unit
- not recorded
- Age
- Permian (Cisuralian–Guadalupian)
293.5–259.5 Ma - Reference
- Wikipedia
A fenestrate bryozoan: the colony forms a rigid mesh of branches joined by cross-bars, with rectangular windows between them. The feeding zooids all open on one face of the mesh.
The colony worked as a sieve. Water was driven through the windows from the blank side to the zooid-bearing side, so every animal in the colony was fed by a single co-ordinated current.
This specimen
Originally recorded by the collector as Polypora ehrenbergi. The funnel-shaped growth form is characteristic of the genus. Collected on the south coast of New South Wales.