A new, non-fenestrated fenestrate bryozoan genus from the Much Wenlock Limestone (Lower Silurian) of England

LonsdaLe in Murchison (1839) named the new species Hornera crassa from the Wenlock Limestone, Dudley, England. Among fenestrate bryozoans the planar colonies are unusual in that the branches divided dichotomously but lack lateral linkages between branches. In addition to the Cenozoic to Recent genus, Hornera, in which the species was originally thought to belong, the species has been placed in three different Paleozoic genera, most recently – and reasonably – Thamniscus. However, a recent thorough description of Thamniscus and its type species does not encompass the zooecial characteristics of H. crassa. The species is here redescribed as the type species of Ramipolypora gen. nov., the first polyporid to join a small number of other non-fenestrated genera in the order Fenestrata (class Stenolaemata).