Vasignyella Gordon, 1989

Vieira, Leandro M., Gordon, Dennis P. & Correia, Monica D., 2007, First record of a living ditaxiporine catenicellid in the Atlantic, with a description of Vasignyella ovicellata n. sp. (Bryozoa), Zootaxa 1582 (1), pp. 49-58 : 51

Genus Vasignyella Gordon, 1989

Type species. Catenaria otophora Kirkpatrick, 1890 , by original designation.

Diagnosis (Amended). Colony erect, comprising branching uniserial chains of unizooidal internodes or with infrequent biserial multizooidal internodes with some zooids ovicellate. Zooids elongate, claviform in uniserial internodes or if located proximally in a multizooidal internode. Frontal shield a gymnocyst with numerous foramina and vestigial costal elements forming the proximal rim of the orifice. Small mural pore-chambers present. Orifice broadly sinusoid; no oral spines. Paired lateral-oral avicularia. Ovicells prominent, ectooecium perforated.

Remarks. Only two species are known so far—the type species and the new species reported here. They occur frequently in associations with other bryozoans. Vasignyella otophora occurs from the low intertidal to 49 m depth in the Indo-Pacific: Indian Ocean, China Sea, Philippines, New Guinea, Rotuma ( Harmer 1957), Red Sea ( Dumont 1981), Samoa ( Gordon 1989), Heron Island, Great Barrier Reef ( Ryland & Hayward 1992), and Erakor Island, Vanuatu ( Tilbrook et al. 2001). A Miocene fossil from Indonesia has also been attributed to this species ( Lagaaij 1968).