Puellina capronensis Winston 2005

Puellina capronensis Winston, 2005

(Fig. 14; Table 13)

Cribrilaria innominata: Winston & Håkansson 1986: 18, figs 40, 42, 44. Puellina capronensis Winston, 2005: 35, fig. 97.

Material examined. VMNH no. 610.00, holotype, Capron Shoal, near Buoy 10 A, off South Hutchinson Island, St. Lucie Co., Florida, 9 July 1998, J. E. Winston coll.; VMNH no. 70617, 70618, 70619; USNM no. 1283239, 1283240.

Description. Colonies (Fig. 14 A) encrusting, biserial to multiserial on calcareous substrata ranging from very small sand-size grains to shells and Oculina branches. Zooids ovoid, boundaries marked by deep grooves (Fig. 14 B, C). Orifice semicircular with 5, thick, distal spines around autozooid rims and 4 spines on ovicelled zooids. Frontal shield formed by 10–15 fused costae, with radiating rows of intercostal lacunae in between; outer edges of costae thickened and raised into tubercles, giving zooids a thick-rimmed appearance. A larger suboral foramen proximal to orifice, the first pair of costae forming a raised V below it. Ooecium helmet shaped, imperforate, with raised central keel (Fig. 14 B, C). No avicularia. Ancestrula tatiform, with 9–11 spines (14D). Sexual reproduction may occur within five generations of ancestrula.

Distribution. East coast of Florida.