MIDDLE CARBONIFEROUS BRYOZOANS OF THE RUSSIAN PLATFORM

Abstract

The Middle Carboniferous bryozoans of the Russian Platform are revised to extend the taxonomic composition of the bryozoan assemblage of the Moscovian Stage up to 55 species (five new) and 29 genera, belonging to 16 families, seven subfamilies, seven suborders, and four orders of the class Stenolaemata. The stratigraphic and geographic ranges of all these taxa are revised. The species that typify the horizons, subhorizons, and formations of the Moscovian are determined. The descriptions of bryozoans (diagnoses of genera and detail descriptions of species) are based on the latest data on their morphology, systematics, and phylogeny. The life-forms of the colony growth, evolutionary trends, and the changes in bryozoans throughout the Moscovian of the Russian Platform are studied. The astogeny of trepostomids (genus Rhombotrypella) and rhabdomesids (genus Pseudorhabdomeson) is studied for the first time. The paper includes 27 plates and three tables and cited 100 Russian and 104 foreign papers.