Systematic position ofMucronella perforata Okada et Mawatari 1937

Abstract

Mucronella perforata was first discovered from Onagawa Bay, northern Honshu, Japan, in 1937 by Okada and Mawatari. It was reported from Hong Kong and its neighboring waters and was referred to the genusHippopodina Levinsen, 1909 of the Family Hippopodinidae Levinsen, 1909 by Huang et al. (1990) and Huang (1994). According to the astogeny of the species, both the ancestrula and its successor zooids have an ascus proximal to the orifice, and its hyperstomial ovicells are imperforate, so it could not be a member of any known genus of the known families of the superfamily Schizoporelloidea Jullien, 1883 in the infraorder Lepraliomorpha Gordon, 1989. The new genusPacificincola and the new family Pacificincolidae established respectively on the basis of reexaminations of the Chinese specimens obtained from the southern Yellow Sea, the East China Sea and the northern South China Sea.Schizoporella insculpta Hincks, 1880 andHippoporina mexicana Soule, Soule et Chaney, 1995 have been referred to the new genus in the paper.