Liguloclema, Crockford, 1957

Ernst, Andrej, 2016, Bryozoan fauna from the Permian (Artinskian-Kungurian) Zhongba Formation of southwestern Tibet, Palaeontologia Electronica (1946) 51 (9), pp. 1-59 : 18

Genus LIGULOCLEMA Crockford, 1957

Type species. Liguloclema typicalis Crockford, 1957 . Noonkanbah Formation, Lower Permian (Artinskian–Kungurian) ; Western Australia.

Diagnosis. Colony narrow bifoliate branches, branching dichotomously in plane of mesotheca. Mesotheca consisting of granular-prismatic material, straight; median tubules present. Autozooecia tubular, with rounded to elongate apertures, rhombically arranged on branches, lacking on lateral sides of branches; subquadrate, trapezoid to subhemispherical in transverse section at mesotheca; angular shaped in deep tangential section in mid exozone and partially isolated by vesicles. Long and thin hook-shaped superior hemisepta present, curved proximally, club-shaped. Lunaria absent. Vesicular skeleton well-developed, restricted to exozone; vesicles blister-like, low to moderately high with flat to rounded roofs, polygonal in tangential section. Autozooecial walls granular-prismatic, with dark median zone continuous into boundary zone in mesotheca. Extrazooecial skeleton well-developed, displaying cloudy structure; acanthostyles present. Monticules absent.

Remarks. Liguloclema Crockford, 1957 differs from Etherella Crockford, 1957 in having narrow belt-shaped colonies instead of reticulate one in Etherella . Liguloclema differs from Wysejacksonella Ernst and Gorgij, 2013 by the club-shaped hemisepta vs. blunt hemisepta representing buckling of the autozooecial wall at the transition between endo- and exozone in Wysejacksonella . Furthermore, Liguloclema possesses median tubules in mesotheca.

Occurrence. Lower Permian (Artinskian); Western Australia. Xiala Formation (?Middle Permian); Xainza, southwestern Tibet.?Lower Permian (Artinskian); Thailand. Zhongba Formation, Permian (upper Cisuralian–Guadalupian); Zhongba area of southwestern Tibet.