Palaeostomata is a superorder of extinct
stenolaemate
Stenolaemata are a class of exclusively marine bryozoans. Stenolaemates originated and diversified in the Ordovician, and more than 600 species are still alive today.[Cyclostomata
Cyclostomi, often referred to as Cyclostomata , is a group of vertebrates that comprises the living jawless fishes: the lampreys and hagfishes. Both groups have jawless mouths with horny epidermal structures that function as teeth called ceratodo ...]
, which is the only extant stenolaemate order. Palaeostomates are sometimes called "stony bryozoans" because they are heavily calcified, making them ideal candidates for fossilization. They are distinct from cyclostomes because they lack calcified exterior walls above the basal lamina and because their zooecial tubes are transected by calcitic partitions, such as diaphragms (which serve as the "floor" for the individual zooids that live in the zooecial tubes).
References
Stenolaemata
Fossil taxa described in 2014
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