Altshedata Morozova, 1959

Ernst, Andrej, Fernández, Luis Pedro, Fernández-Martínez, Esperanza & Vera, Carmen, 2012, Description of a bryozoan fauna from mud mounds of the Lebanza Formation (Lower Devonian) in the Arauz area (Pisuerga-Carrión Province, Cantabrian Zone, NW Spain), Geodiversitas 34 (4), pp. 693-738 : 700

Genus Altshedata Morozova, 1959

TYPE SPECIES. — Fistulipora belgebaschensis Nekhoroshev, 1948 , by subsequent designation ( Morozova 1959). Middle Devonian (Givetian) ; Altai, Russia .

OCCURRENCE. — Besides the type species Altshedata belgebaschensis (Nekhoroshev, 1948) , two species have been reported: A. parasitica Yang & Lu, 1983 from the Upper Carboniferous of Xinjiang ( China), and A. xiacaiyuanensis Fan, 1993 from the Permian of Yunnan ( China). However, these species may not belong to the genus Altshedata Morozova, 1959 because they show significant differences in their internal morphology possessing large and abundant vesicles as well as hemiphragms.

DIAGNOSIS. — Colonies encrusting or massive. Autozooecia large, living chambers subangular to subrounded in transverse section, budding from the epitheca. Lunaria moderate to large in the inner exozone, large on the colony surface, rounded, deeply indenting autozooecia. Diaphragms few to abundant. Vesicular skeleton present. Heterozooecia absent. Autozooecial walls thick, undulatory, having indistinct granular microstructure. Monticules with large zooecia and more abundant interzooecial space.

COMPARISON

Altshedata Morozova, 1959 differs from Anolotichia Ulrich, 1890 in having rounded lunaria indenting autozooecia and vesicular skeleton, from Crassaluna Utgaard, 1968 in the shape of the lunaria which are rounded in Altshedata but irregular with nodes and ridges in Crassaluna .