Inconobotopora lichenoporoides, a new genus and species of cystoporate bryozoan from the Silurian of Gotland, and its evolutionary implications

Abstract

An unusual, lichenoporid-like bryozoan colony from Mid-Silurian strata on Gotland is described as a new cystoporate, Inconobotopora lichenoporoides new genus and species; a poorly known form from the same area and approximate horizon is reclassified as Inconobotopora silurica (Hennig, 1906). Similarities in overall morphology, particularly flagged by the distinctive radial-disk construction, combine with geochronologic sequence to suggest the possibility of an evolutionary lineage from Ordovician Constellaria, through Silurian Inconobotopora, to Devonian Botryllopora, and perhaps even on to Cretaceous-Cenozoic-Recent Lichenopora (although this last extension is extremely difficult to demonstrate in the present state of knowledge).