Andrej Ernst

University of Hamburg | UHH · Department of Geosciences

sessile colonial, filter-feeding animals, many of which possess hard carbonate skeletons of different morphology. The bryozoan faunas of the Ordovician of Estonia were studied early by famous naturalists such as Karl Eduard von Eichwald and Władisław Dybowski. Later, in the 20th century, many palaeontologists, among them Ray Bassler, Hendrik Bekk...

There was a sudden increase in the diversity of bioclaustrations in the Sandbian (Late Ordovician) that continued somewhat more slowly in the Katian. The Sandbian was also the time when bioclaustrations became common, at least in Baltica. The major increase in the diversity of bioclaustrations in the Late Ordovician was an outcome of the GOBE, and...

Thin sections of three Palaeozoic bryozoans reveal fossilized soft tissues that show the position of organic cuticle and internal structures such as the membranous sac and gut. The fossilization occurred apparently due to fast burial under anoxic conditions. The position of a membranous sac in the Permian trepostome Rhombotrypella superangustata is...

Trepostome bryozoans, with their thick calcitic skeletons, formed the largest number of symbiotic associations with endobionts in the Phanerozoic. Such associations were also formed by cystoporates, fenestrates, cy-clostomes and cheilostomes. Bryozoans formed most of their symbiotic associations with endobiotic cnidarians, and markedly fewer with e...

Valves of the strophomenid brachiopod Sowerbyella tenera are often encrusted by trepos-tome bryozoan colonies in the lower Katian of Estonia. In some cases, the encrustation of Sowerbyella likely took place syn vivo. A single Sowerbyella tenera contains three Palaeosabella prisca borings that were bored post mortem into the interface between the en...

The stenolaemate bryozoan fauna is described from the Pennsylvanian (Atokan– Virgilian) of the Sandia Mountains, New Mexico, USA. The fauna includes 27 species: eight cystoporates, four trepostomes, three cryptostomes, and 12 fenestrates. One species is new: the trepostome Mishulgella vachardi sp. nov. Eight species are described in open nomenclatu...

The stenolaemate bryozoan fauna is described from the Pennsylvanian (Atokan-Virgilian) of the Sandia Mountains, New Mexico, USA. The fauna includes 27 species: eight cystoporates, four trepostomes, three cryptostomes, and 12 fenestrates. One species is new: the trepostome Mi shulgella vachardi sp. nov. Eight species are described in open nomenclatu...

Endobiotic cornulitids formed symbiotic associations with tabulate corals and stromatoporoids in the Katian (Late Ordovician) of Estonia. The cornulitids benefited from a stable substrate and additional protection against predators offered by the skeleton of their hosts. Symbiotic lingulates and Chaetosalpinx-like bioclaustration structures are her...

Seven fenestrate bryozoans are described from the Middle Devonian of the Eifel. Three species were identified as Prolixicella bifurcata Ernst and Schroeder, 2007, Rectifenestella aculeata (Sandberger and Sandberger, 1856), and Spinofenestella antiqua (Goldfuss, 1826). Four species are described in open nomenclature: Rectifenestella sp. 1 and sp. 2,...

Bryozoans were common benthic invertebrates in the Silurian seas. The large biodiversity among Silurian benthic organisms prompted diversified interactions, and as a result bryozoans hosted many other organisms as symbionts. Here we analyse the cystoporate bryozoan Fistulipora przhidolensis and unidentified trepostomes intergrown with auloporid tab...

Nineteen bryozoan species belonging to 18 genera are described from the La Pola Formation (Sandbian, Upper Ordovician) of Argentine Precordillera. Two trepostome genera each with one new species, respectively, are new: Albardonia bifoliata n. gen., n. sp. and Argentinopora robusta n. gen., n. sp. Five more species are new: a cystoporate Xenotrypa a...

An exceptionally well-preserved bryozoan fauna has been described from the Finis Shale Member, Graham Formation, Pennsylvanian (Virgilian) at Lost Creek Lake, Texas, USA. Nineteen bryozoan species (four cystoporates, one trepostome, two rhabdomesine cryptostomes, and 12 fenestrates) have been identified in two profiles which cut the most vertical r...

Middle Devonian (Eifelian/Givetian transition) brachiopod-hosted sclerobiont assemblage from Gondwana (Morocco, eastern Anti-Atlas, Mader Basin) has been studied for the first time. The analysis of hundreds of brachiopod shells revealed at least 26 sclerobiont taxa, making the studied palaeoecommunity one of the most diverse Middle Devonian sclerob...

Two bryozoan species belonging to the Family Semicosciniidae Morozova, 1987 are described from the Middle Devonian of the Eifel— Bigeyina winteri (Bornemann, 1884) and Loculipora alvearis (Maurer, 1885). The two species are endemic to the Middle Devonian (Eifelian–Givetian) of the Eifel. Morphology and taxonomical assignment of the studied bryozoan...

Rhombotrypella superangustata and Dyscritellina fuglensis (Bryozoa, Trepostomata) were found for the first time in the Assistance Formation of Ellesmere Island, Canada. Both species correlate the Roadian age of the Assistance Formation with contemporary deposits in Northern Russia and Bjørnøya, Norway. They possess robust erect colonies adapted for...

Molecular evidence has long indicated that aquatic animals called bryozoans should be found among the fossils of the Cambrian period, around 541 million years ago. Yet they have been conspicuously absent, until now. The discovery of elusive fossils provides insight into animal evolution.

Anoigmaichnus bioclaustrations (A. odinsholmensis, A. bretti, and A. isp.), unidentified large bioclaustrations, small conical bioclaustrations, cornulitids and conulariids occur in the Sandbian trepostome bryozoans of Estonia. The most abundant symbionts in the middle Sandbian bryozoans were Anoigmaichnus odinsholmensis bioclaustrations, making up...

Eichholt, S. & Becker, R. T. & Aboussalam, Z. S. & El Hassani, A. & May, A. & Jansen, U. & Ernst, A. & El Kamel, F. (2021): Devonian of the Mechra Ben Abbou region (Rehamna) – new data on the reef succession, microfacies, stratigraphy, and palaeogeography. - Frontiers in Science and Engineering, vol. 10 (2): p. 109-152; Rabat, Maroc. Abstract The...

Based on new field work, sampling for conodonts, ammonoids, and microfacies analysis, the allochthonous Lower/Middle Devonian stratigraphy and facies history of the Eastern Jebilet NNE of Marrakech is revised and refined. Silurian to Pragian partly siliceous black shales are assigned to the new Jebel Smaha Formation, which yielded HUVELIN (1977) in...

The bryozoan fauna from the Gray Mesa Formation (Pennsylvanian) of the Fra Cristobal Mountains, New Mexico, comprises five species: the cystoporate Fistulipora nodulifera Meek, 1872, trepostome Stenopora spinulosa Rogers, 1900, two rhabdomesine cryptostomes Pseudorhabdome son minus (Moore, 1929) and Rhombopora lepidodendroides Meek, 1872, as well a...

A late Viséan fossiliferous limestone block from the Kirchbach Formation (Mississippian) in the Carnic Alps (southern Austria) has been studied for its palaeontological and petrographic characteristics. The limestone block contains abundant fossils and is composed of different microfacies including bioclastic floatstone, coral bafflestone, bryozoan...

A first study of bioerosional structures and skeletobionts associated with an almost monotypic assemblage of free-lying bryozoan colonies of Celleporaria? sp., from the middle Miocene succession of the Siwa Oasis, Egypt, revealed four groups of encrusters (serpulids, sheet-like cheilostome bryozoans, balanoid barnacles and oysters) and eight differ...

Based on the analysis of data on bryozoan localities in territory of modern Eurasia, changes of the bryozoan richness were calculated in detail for six time slices in the interval from the early Famennian to the late Tournaisian. Highest extinction tempo was observed for the latest Famennian, apparently linked to the Hangenberg Event. However, in t...

Bryozoan–stromatolite associations (bryostromatolites) formed conspicuous reef structures throughout the Sheinwoodian (Wenlock) to Ludfordian (Ludlow) stratigraphy on Gotland but have not been described so far. They are mainly composed of encrusting bryozoans forming a complex intergrowth with porostromate and spongiostromate microbes and are diffe...

Eight bryozoan species are described from the Hanchiatien Formation (lower Silurian, Telychian) of southern Chongqing, South China. Four species are new: the trepostomes Asperopora sinensis n. sp., Trematopora jiebeiensis n. sp., and Trematopora tenuis n. sp., and the fenestrate Moorephylloporina parvula n. sp. One species, the cystoporate Hennigop...

Three species of the fenestrate genus Anastomopora are described from the Middle Devonian of the Rhenish Massif, Germany. Two species are new: Anastomopora blankenheimensis sp. nov. and Anastomopora minor sp. nov. The morphology and relations of the genus Anastomopora are dis- cussed. The described bryozoans are endemic to the Middle Devonian of th...

In the Silurian, the most common hosts of endobiotic rugose corals were stromatoporoids followed by tabulate corals. Here we describe the relationship between rugose corals and a bryozoan. Solitary rugosans and the cystoporate bryozoan Fistulipora przhidolensis Kopajevich, 1990 formed a symbiotic association in the late Silurian (Pridoli) of Saarem...

Cornulites sp. and Fistulipora przhidolensis formed a symbiotic association in the Pridoli (latest Silurian) of Saaremaa Island, Estonia. This Cornulites sp.–F. przhidolensis association is the youngest example of cornulitid–bryozoan symbiosis. Symbiosis is indicated by intergrowth of both organisms. The cornulitids are completely embedded within t...

A bryozoan fauna from the Upper Devonian (lower Famennian) of the Bahram Formation of the Baqer-abad section in central Iran contains four species: three trepostomes and one rhabdomesine cryptostome. Two trepostome species and one genus are new: Anomalotoechus parvus sp. nov. and Zefrehopora asynithis gen. nov. et sp. nov. The trepostome Coeloclemi...

This is the first detailed taxonomic study of Carboniferous bryozoans from the autochthonous southern margin of the Palaeotethys between western Libya and southernmost Turkey. Eleven bryozoan species, all first documented in this vast region, are described from the vicinity of the Gulf of Suez. Four species have been derived from the Mississippian...

Four bryozoan species are described from the Siliciclastic Imagh Formation of the Carboniferous (Pennsylvanian) succession at the Imagh section, Posht-e-Badam Block, Kalmard area in central Iran. Three species are new: two trepostomes Dyscritella multiporata sp. nov., Dyscritella kalmardensis sp. nov., and a rhabdomesine cryptostome Rhombopora arya...

Four bryozoan species were identified from the Mississippian (Viséan) Mobarak Formation of northern Iran: the cystoporates Fistulipora longituba Yang and Lu, Fistulipora djebaglinica Nikiforova, Fistulipora sp., and the trepostome Hinaclema sakagamii Schastlivtseva. The cystoporates are represented by large massive, mainly multilayered colonies, wh...

Most major phyla, and all skeletonized phyla have their first appearance in the Cambrian. The exception is the Phylum Bryozoa, which first appear in the Early Ordovician (Tremadocian 1b). Bryozoans have an excellent fossil record, due in part to their benthic marine habitat with skeletal colonies composed largely of stable, low-Magnesium calcite. T...

The trepostome bryozoans Diplotrypa abnormis, D. bicornis, D. petropolitana, Esthoniopora communis, Esthoniopora subsphaerica, Mesotrypa excentrica, M. expressa, M. raritabulata, and Monotrypa jewensis have symbiotic associations with the conulariid Climacoconus bottnicus in the Upper Ordovician of Estonia. All bryoimmured conulariids are very smal...

The majority of Upper Ordovician bryozoan occurrences in Morocco are known from the Anti- Atlas. These faunas are abundant and diverse; however, many of them still remain unstudied. The few explored bryozoan faunas of the Katian age exhibit high abundance and diversity of erect branched and massive trepostomes accompanied by few esthonioporines, cr...

A new species of the Paleozoic bryozoan genus Ptilotrypa of the order Cryptostomata is described from the lower part of the Yong Limestone Formation, Katian, Upper Ordovician of the Kumaun Tethys Himalaya: Ptilotrypa bajpaii new species. The presence of the genus Ptilotrypa in the Tethyan Himalaya suggests paleogeographic connections to the Upper O...

Thirteen bryozoan species are described from the Brewer Dock (Hickory Corners) Member of the Reynales Formation (lower Silurian, Aeronian) at the locality Hickory Corners in western New York, USA. Three species are new: trepostomes Homotrypa niagarensis n. sp. and Leioclema adsuetum n. sp. and the rhabdomesine cryptostome Moyerella parva n. sp. Onl...

Lower to probably Middle Devonian bryozoans from western Argentina are reported. Five genera of trepostomes: Leptotrypa , Leptotrypella , Eridotrypella , Cyphotrypa , Boardmanella , and the cryptostome ? Pseudonematopora are described and figured. The paleobiogeographical significance of these bryozoans was analyzed in the context of Southern Gondw...

This is the first report of encrusted cryptic surfaces in the Ordovician of Estonia. Only bryozoans and cornulitids occurred in nautiloids and trilobites. Bryozoans were the dominant encrusters, in terms of both the number of specimens and the encrustation area. Stalked echinoderms are common on the hardgrounds in the Middle and Upper Ordovician of...

Three species of trepostome bryozoans formed syn vivo associations with the Cornulites in the Late Ordovician of Estonia. Cornulites sp. and Mesotrypa excentrica presumably formed a true symbiotic association. This is the first known case of symbiosis between cornulitids and bryozoans. It is not known whether this symbiotic association was obligato...

Two new bioclaustrations, Anoigmaichnus zapalskii sp. Nov. And A. Bretti sp. Nov., are described in Mesotrypa expressa colonies of Katian age. Both species were borings in the initial phase of growth and bioclaustrations in the later phase of growth. In addition, a new semiconical bioclaustration is described from Mesotrypa expressa. New data from...

Ten bryozoan species are described from the Andrecito and Tierra Blanca members of the Lake Valley Formation (Mississippian) of Sierra County, New Mexico, USA. One genus, with one species, is new—a cystoporate, Cystomeson sierraensis n. gen. n. sp. The bryozoans indicate quieter and deeper conditions in the Andrecito Member and more agitated and sh...

The earliest known rugosan-bryozoan intergrowth is reported from the early Katian of Estonia. A specimen of Orbignyella germana Bassler, 1911, from pelmatozoan-bryozoan-receptaculitid reefs of the Vasalemma Formation shows intergrowth with rugosans Lambelasma carinatum Weyer, 1993. The morphology of the bryozoan colony does not show any malformatio...

Two relatively large specimens of the rugosan Lambelasma sp. are fully intergrown with the bryozoan Stigmatella massalis colony. The intergrown specimen occurs in the Oandu Regional Stage (lower Katian) of Estonia and constitutes the earliest record of bryozoan-rugosan intergrowth from Baltica. Most likely this symbiotic association was accidental....

Bryozoans, stromatoporoid sponges, and tabulate corals, all colonial metazoans with lamellar, encrusting growth forms, developed and simultaneously diversified during the Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event (GOBE). After revisiting some classic Lower, Middle, and Upper Ordovician reef localities in Laurentia (Franklin Mountains, west Texas, M...

The palaeoecology of Famennian-Tournaisian (Late Devonian-Early Carboniferous) bryozoans from central and southern regions of Russia is analysed. Famennian-Tournaisian bryozoans associations of the Altai-Sayan Folded Area and the south-western region of the West-Siberian plate was a shallow-middle shelf according to our own and literature data. Rob...

This study presents a compilation of the temporal distribution of 200 bryozoan genera during the Ordovician. Bryozoans appeared in the earliest Ordovician (Tremadoc), diversified rapidly until the late Sandbian, and then suffered three distinct extinctions in the Late Ordovician. In the early Katian, the first significant extinction eliminated 22.7...

A rich bryozoan assemblage of Cerros de Tule contains 10 species including two cystoporates, one trepostome, two rhabdomesine cryptostomes and five fenestrates. The age of this assemblage was determined on the basis of associated fusulinds Beedeina as late middle Desmoinesian (probable equivalent of the Podolskian substage of the Moscovian stage)....

Two assemblages from the Ordovician rocks of the Arctic region contain exclusively trepostome bryozoans. The first assemblage from the Yunoyaga Formation (Middle Ordovician) of Maly Oleniy Island, Novaya Zemlya, contains Monticulipora mammulata d’Orbigny, 1850 and Nicholsonella vaupeliformis Modzalevskaya, 1955. Both species possess thick-branched...

The cystoporate bryozoan Glyptopora michelinia (Prout, 1860) was identified from the latest Viséan/earliest Serpukhovian of southern France. This species was known previously from the Mississippian of the USA and southwestern Spain. The morphology of the genus Glyptopora includes the development of bilaminate lobes. Such morphology became successfu...

Eleven bryozoan species are described from the Mississippian of southern Belgium, including one new species, Atactotoechus vaulxensis, and one species left in open nomenclature (Stenophragmidium sp.). From this fauna, four species are restricted to the Tournaisian stage, and seven occur in the Viséan. The fauna is mainly small-sized, represented by...

Substantial new information is presented on upper Artinskian–Kungurian deposits in Timor-Leste and in the Canning, Southern Carnarvon and northern Perth basins of Western Australia. These basins, situated between about 35°S and 55°S palaeolatitude, formed part of the East Gondwana interior rift, a precursor to the rift that 100 my later formed the...

Articulation in erect bryozoans is known from the Ordovician to the Recent, and is developed in a number of Palaeozoic Orders. In the Order Cryptostomata, articulation is largely confined to some members of the Suborder Ptilodictyina and the Family Arthrostylidae of the Suborder Rhabdomesina, and was previous noted in the sole genus of the Family B...

Pennsylvanian strata are well exposed in the Cerros de Amado area, east of Socorro, central New Mexico. The succession is approximately 800 m thick and divided into the Sandia, Gray Mesa and Atrasado formations. Conodonts indicate an Atokan age for the Sandia Formation. The Gray Mesa Formation is divided into Elephant Butte, Whiskey Canyon and Garc...

A bryozoan fauna from the Late Devonian (Frasnian) of the Bahram Formation of the Zefreh section in central Iran contains four species: three trepostomes and one rhabdomesine cryptostome. Two species are new: the trepostome Coeloclemis zefrehensis sp. nov. and the rhabdomesine cryptostome Euthyrhombopora tenuis sp. nov. The trepostome species Cypho...

The Pennsylvanian (Desmoinesian–Virgilian) Buckhorn Asphalt Quarry in Oklahoma, USA is well known for its exceptional preservation of a diverse marine invertebrate fauna. Results from the latest study focusing on the Buckhorn bryozoans are presented. Nine genera and species are recognized, two of them new (Stenophragmidium buckhornensis and Streblo...

The earliest known endobiotic rugose corals are recorded in the Katian of Estonia. Multiple rugosans were partially embedded in colonies of the cystoporate bryozoan Ceramopora intercellata Bassler, 1911, leaving only their apertures free on the bryozoan growth surface. Bodophyllum sp. and Lambelasma sp. are rugosans that formed a symbiotic associat...

The Pennsylvanian (Desmoinesian–Virgilian) Buckhorn Asphalt Quarry in Oklahoma, USA is well known for its exceptional preservation of a diverse marine invertebrate fauna. Results from the latest study focusing on the Buckhorn bryozoans are presented. Nine genera and species are recognized, two of them new (Stenophragmidium buckhornensis and Streblo...

The Pennsylvanian (Desmoinesian–Virgilian) Buckhorn Asphalt Quarry (Boggy Formation, Deese Group) in Oklahoma, USA is well known for its exceptional preservation of a diverse marine invertebrate fauna. This includes preservation of original shell material, microscopic characters on shells, or color patterns. Preservation is exceptionally because of...

The Middle to Upper Pennsylvanian Buckhorn Asphalt Quarry (Boggy Formation, Deese Group) of Oklahoma, USA, is well known for its exceptionally preserved fauna of marine invertebrates, including conservation of original skeletal aragonite. Here, we describe for the first time the taxonomy of the Buckhorn bryozoans, recognising nine species, two of w...

Four trepostome bryozoan species are described from the Upper Triassic of New Caledonia. They include one new genus Metastenodiscus n. gen. The studied fauna shows strong paleobiogeographic relations to New Zealand and less so to Japan. Morphological similarities between Middle Paleozoic and Triassic trepostome bryozoans (e.g., abundant diaphragms)...

Two species of the fenestrate genus Fenestrapora Hall, 1885 are described from the Middle Devonian (middle Eifelian-lower Givetian) of the Rhenish Massif, Germany. The species Fenestrapora transcaucasica Morozova and Lavrentjeva, 1998 is known from the Middle Devonian (Eifelian) of Transcaucasia, Azerbaijan, and from the Middle Devonian (Eifelian)...

A new study of the Upper Ordovician bryozoans belonging to the families Aisenvergiidae, Amplexoporidae, Arthrostylidae, Enalloporidae, Halloporidae, Heterotrypidae, Mesotrypidae, Ptilodictyidae, Rhinidictyidae and Trematoporidae from the eastern Anti-Atlas of Morocco is presented here. These bryozoans come from the calcarenitic levels of the Khabt-...