Conescharellina depressa Haswell, 1881

Bock, Philip E. & Cook, Patricia L., 2004, A review of Australian Conescharellinidae (Bryozoa: Cheilostomata), Memoirs of Museum Victoria 61 (2), pp. 135-182 : 145

Conescharellina depressa Haswell, 1881

Conescharellina? depressa Haswell, 1881: 41 , pl. 3 fig. 4. Conescharellina depressa . — Livingstone, 1924: 212.

Description. Colony forming a low cone, concave antapically, with prominent marginal zooids. Orifices with raised peristomes, arranged in apparent radial series, alternating with large avicularia with elongated, rounded, or semicircular mandibles. Lunate root pores occur among the avicularia. Antapical cancelli lining the concave surface (based on Livingstone, 1924).

Remarks. C. depressa was originally described from Port Denison, Queensland. Whitelegge (1887) mentioned “5 or 6 specimens ” but these do not seem to have been part of the type material, although he mentioned no locality other than Haswell’s. Livingstone (1924: 205) noted that Whitelegge had informed him that Haswell did not label his type specimens, and that he himself had seen only small fragments of each species. The orifice was described with a sinus “about half the diameter of the mouth; or ovate with a sub-triangular denticle on each side near the base”. Harmer (1957: 743) regarded C. depressa it as “nearly allied” to his C. crassa but the wide primary orifice and lunate root pores suggest that it may be distinct. Until type material can be examined, the characters of this species must remain uncertain; no colony resembling it has been found in the present material.