Puellina smitti Winston, 2005

(Fig. 16; Table 15)

Cribrilina radiata: Smitt 1873: 22 (part).

Cribrilaria flabellifera: Banta & Carson 1977: 392, fig. 4.4; Winston 1984: 13, figs 25–27. Puellina smitti Winston, 2005: 34, figs 89–93.

Material examined. Smitt MCZ # 121, holotype, with Trematooecia aviculifera [identified by Smitt as Discopora albirostris] and other species, Tortugas [no date or depth given]; USNM36786, labelled Cribrilaria flabellifera, Outer Ridge, Carrie Bow Cay, Belize, 20 m, J. E. Winston coll.; USNM [no cat. no.], Cribrilaria, Albatross Stn 2319, north of Cuba, 23°10'37" N, 82°20'6" W, 143 fms [in part-sample contains two different Puellina species, one being P. smitti]; VMNH no. 70622, 70623; USNM no. 1283242.

Description. Colony (Fig. 16 A) encrusting, unilamellar, on calcareous substrata. Zooids small, oval to rhomboidal. Frontal shield composed of 10–18 radiating, prominent, rounded costae separated by evenly spaced pores. First pair of costae enlarged, thicker and more raised than succeeding costae, fused in shallow V-shape and sometimes with bifid median mucro. A row of pores with a large central lacuna between first pair of costae and proximal rim of orifice. Gymnocyst extensive proximally, narrowing laterally. Orifice semicircular with 6 oral spines. Smoothly calcified, oval-rhomboidal interzooidal avicularia with flaring rostra and narrow-stemmed, flattened ginkgo-leaf shaped mandibles occur between zooids and at colony margin (Fig. 16 B, D, F). Ooecium imperforate, helmet-shaped with central bump or ridge (Fig. 16 C). Ancestrula tatiform with 11 spines; it may develop a kenozooidal costal shield as colony ages (Fig. 16 D).

Remarks. Winston (2005) discussed the differences in morphology between Floridan and Caribbean Puellina smitti and Puellina flabellifera, a species described from Mauritius. Although some authors have considered Puellina flabellifera to have a worldwide tropical, subtropical distribution, it is much more likely that a species complex, rather than a single species, is involved (see also Bishop & Househam 1987).

Distribution. East coast of Florida and Caribbean.