Metrarabdotos, Canu, 1914

Ramalho, Laís V., Távora, Vladimir A. & Zagorsek, Kamil, 2017, New records of the bryozoan Metrarabdotos from the Pirabas Formation (Lower Miocene), Pará State, Brazil, Palaeontologia Electronica (Weinheim an der Bergstrasse, Germany) 10 (15), pp. 1-11 : 3

Genus METRARABDOTOS Canu, 1914

Diagnosis. From Cheetham, Sanner, and Jackson (2007) modified. Colonies rigidly erect or encrusting. Frontal shield imperforate except for areolae on proximal and lateral margins. Primary orifice with distal shelf. Secondary orifice with one to three denticles on or just below proximal lip. No oral spines. Adventitious avicularia with different size and orientations, single or paired, dimorphic. Mandibles hinged on complete pivotal bars. Ordinary avicularia single or paired on autozooecia, present or absent on ovicellate autozooecia; special avicularia can be present on zooecia adjacent to the ooecium and/or in zooecia located along branch edges. Ooecium nearly as large as a zooid, sometimes even larger, fused skeletally with the maternal zooecium.

Remarks. Cheetham, Sanner, and Jackson (2007) did not refer to ooecia, which are larger than zooids. However, in M. elongatum sp. nov. we found ooecia larger than maternal zooid, while this species without any doubt belongs to genus Metrarabdotos . We therefore modified the diagnosis in this sense.