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(Fwd) Re: Mystery Fossil




The mystery fossil appears to be a bryozoan, but I would like to put it under the 
mike to look for zooids. The colony form is not right for most 
fenestellids of the Permian - but bryozoans are VERY diverse in colony 
form. 

It is closer to the genus Adeona, a very common genusin the Recent 
of Australia, but whose earliest known records are from the Eocene of 
Europe.

Petralia has a similar colony form, but is only recorded from the 
Recent. A Tertiary species of Macropora is also similar. 

None of these are "closely" related, so it appears that the colony form 
is the result of convergence. I guess that the form may be a new 
genus, but I would have to see it before putting it into the 
cheilostomes or anything else.

Look at Petralia undata at:
http://www.civgeo.rmit.edu.au/bryozoa/cheilostomatida/petraliidae/

This message was first sent on 4th September, but as I haven't 
received it from the mailserver, I suspect it got lost at our end!

Phil Bock
Dept of Civil & Geological Engineering
Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology
Email:  bock@rmit.edu.au      Phone  (Int.) +61 3 9660 2411
Home Page:  http://www.civgeo.rmit.edu.au/staff/bock.html
"The world is a comedy to those that think, a tragedy to those that feel"
   (Horace Walpole, 1717-1797)