Calyptotheca Harmer, 1957

Sebastian, Pascal & Cumming, Robyn L., 2016, Three new species of Calyptotheca (Bryozoa: Lanceoporidae) from the Great Barrier Reef, tropical Australia, Zootaxa 4079 (4), pp. 467-479 : 468

Genus Calyptotheca Harmer, 1957

Type species. Schizoporella nivea var. wasinensis ( Waters, 1913) , by original designation.

Diagnosis. We follow the diagnosis provided by Cumming & Tilbrook (2014).

Remarks. Calyptotheca is identified by the combination of a pseudoporous frontal shield, orificial sinus with proximolateral condyles, orificial dimorphism, and subglobose, regularly pseudoporous ooecia with calcification resembling that of the frontal shield.

Cumming & Tilbrook (2014, p. 165) identified a subgroup of species within Calyptotheca characterised by a single, subrounded, suboral, medial avicularium on each zooid. We here establish another subgroup, the ‘ Calyptotheca wasinensis subgroup’, characterised by numerous small, oval, marginal adventitious avicularia and suboral nodular thickening or an umbo, comprising C. wasinensis , C. conica , C. fossulata Harmer, 1957 , C. janua ( Livingstone, 1929) , C. nivea ( Busk, 1884) , C. porelliformis ( Waters, 1918) , C. wulguru n. sp. and C. churro n. sp.

Orificial dimorphism is a feature of Calyptotheca , included in all major diagnoses of the genus ( Harmer 1957; Dumont 1981; Gordon 1989a; Tilbrook 2006; Cumming & Tilbrook 2014), and the measurement of dimorphism is now essential for a complete description of Calyptotheca species. However, just a small number of Calyptotheca descriptions have been published with sufficient measurements to demonstrate such dimorphism, viz Powell (1967), Gordon (1989a), Cumming & Tilbrook (2014) and the present work. Orificial dimorphism is slight in C. australis , C. lardil and C. tenuata ( Cumming & Tilbrook 2014) , somewhat greater in C. churro n. sp., C. conica and C. wasinensis ( Cumming & Tilbrook 2014) as well as in C. immersa ( Powell, 1967, p. 272) and C. mortoni ( Gordon, 1989b, p. 456), and pronounced in C. wulguru n. sp. and C. tilbrooki n. sp. Orificial dimorphism is stated but not measured for C. acutirostris ( Canu & Bassler, 1929, p. 299), C. capitifera ( Canu & Bassler, 1929, p. 300), C. hastingsae ( Harmer, 1957, p. 1013), C. heteroavicularia Dumont, 1981 , C. suluensis ( Harmer 1957, p. 1012) and C. thornelyae ( Dumont 1981, p. 625).