Poricella celleporoides (Busk, 1884)

(Figs 33, 34; Table 10)

Lepralia celleporoides Busk, 1884: 142, pl. 17, fig. 4.

Tremogasterina celleporoides: Canu & Bassler, 1929: 118, pl. 12, figs 1–6; Harmer, 1957: 659, pl. 49, figs 18–21; Cook, 1977: 136, pls 1A, D, 2, 5D, 8A.

Figured material. RGM.1350553, Holocene, UPGG 041, off South Sulawesi.

Description. Colony encrusting, multiserial, unilaminar. Autozooids distinct with deep interzooidal furrows, rounded polygonal, longer than wide (mean L/W = 1.33). Frontal shield flat, nodular, with large, circular marginal pores about 50–60 µm in diameter, and a central foramen, often broken, preserved in one zooid as bipartite and transversely dumbbell-shaped. Orifice slightly longer than broad, more longitudinally semielliptical and narrowest along the proximal edge; condyles inconspicuous. Oral spine bases not seen. Interzooidal avicularium placed laterally to an autozooid, with a spatulate and truncate rostrum, distolaterally directed, about 315 µm long by 130 µm wide. Ooecium not observed.

Remarks. A single small, poorly preserved fragment of Poricella celleporoides was found in our samples. Besides P. celleporoides, two further species of Poricella inhabit the Indo-Pacific at the present day, P. robusta (Hincks, 1884) and P. spathulata (Canu & Bassler, 1929) . Both differ from P. celleporoides in having a greater number of frontal foramina (Cook 1977). Poricella celleporoides has been recorded from the Torres Strait at about 14–18 m depth, from the Philippines at about 35–420 m depth, and from Indonesia at 0–40 m depth (Harmer 1957).

N, Number of colonies and number of zooids measured; SD, standard deviation.