Ascopora gracilis, Ernst & Senowbari-Daryan & Hamedani, 2006

Ernst, Andrej, Senowbari-Daryan, Baba & Hamedani, Ali, 2006, Middle Permian Bryozoa from the Lakaftari area, northeast of Esfahan (central Iran), Geodiversitas 28 (4), pp. 543-590 : 552-554

Ascopora gracilis n. sp. ( Fig. 3 E-I; Table 8)

HOLOTYPE. — SMF 2112 .

ETYMOLOGY. — The species name derives from Latin “ gracilis ”: slender, and refers to the small diameter of the colony.

PARATYPE. — 23-6-7.

TYPE LOCALITY. — Lakaftari, central Iran.

TYPE LEVEL. — Jamal Formation, Middle Permian.

MATERIAL EXAMINED. — 23-3-2, 23-6, 23-6-5, 23- 6-8.

OCCURRENCE. — Lakaftari: central Iran, Jamal Formation, Middle Permian.

DIAGNOSIS. — Delicate ramose colony with a wide axial bundle, abundant hemiphragms, and small acanthostyles.

DESCRIPTION

Ramose branching colonies, 1.08-1.35 mm in diameter. Exozone 0.18-0.25 mm wide. Autozooecia with long proximal parts, building distinct axial bundle in the endozone, arranged there in 8 to 11 rows, having polygonal shape in cross section, bending abruptly outwards in the exozone. Axial bundle 0.45-0.84 mm in diameter. Autozooecial apertures lens-shaped, arranged in regular rows, spaced 5 per 2 mm of the colony length. Hemiphragms (?multiple hemisepta) common, long, occurring 3-5 in each aperture, positioned on the proximal wall of the autozooecia, slightly curved proximally. Single acanthostyle positioned between apertures, 0.02- 0.03 mm in diameter, restricted to the laminated wall in the exozone. Rare metazooecia rounded in their cross section, 0.02-0.08 mm in diameter. Zooecial walls thin in the endozone; laminated, regularly thickened in the exozone.

COMPARISON

Ascopora gracilis n. sp. is similar to A. attenuata Trizna, 1950 from the Lower Permian (Artinskian) of Bashkiria ( Russia). The new species has thinner branches (1.08-1.35 vs. 1.37-1.65 mm in A. attenuata ), as well as smaller acanthostyles (0.02-0.03 vs. 0.08-0.1 mm in A. attenuata ). The new species is also similar to Ascopora asiatica Sakagami, 1968 from the Lower Permian (Artinskian?) of Peninsular Thailand. The latter one has thicker branches (2.2- 3.0 vs. 1.08-1.35 mm in the new species), larger apertures and single superior hemiseptum instead of hemiphragms.

Figures

FIG. 3. — A-D, Ogbinopora orientalis Gorjunova, 1975; A, B, 5-6-3, longitudinal section (arrow in B: hemisepta); C, 5-9-3, cross section; D, 5-6, tangential section; E-I, Ascopora gracilis n. sp.; E, paratype 23-6-7, longitudinal section; F, 23-6-5, tangential section; G, 23-6-8, cross section; H, 23-6-7, longitudinal section; I, holotype SMF 2112, oblique tangential section (arrow: acanthostyle); J- M, Fistuliporidae indet. (?Eridopora); J, 4-8-11, tangential section; K, 19-4-10, longitudinal section showing hemisepta; L, 19-4-10, longitudinal section showing wall structure; M, 19-4-10, tangential section showing lunarium; N-P, Eridopora oculata Bassler, 1929; N, 11-1, tangential section; O, 16-1-7, tangential section showing hexagons around apertures; P, 16-1-7, longitudinal section. Scale bars: A, 1 mm; B, D, G, H, J, N-P, 0.5 mm; C, 2 mm; E, K, M, 0.1 mm; F, I, 0.25 mm; L, 0.05 mm.