Bryozoa from the Korytnica Basin (Middle Miocene; Holy Cross Mountains, Central Poland)

Abstract

New cyclostome and cheilostome bryozoan material from the Korytnica Basin (Middle Miocene; Holy Cross Mountains, Central Poland) has yielded 51 taxa (with some remaining in open nomenclature), among which Stephanollona korytnicensis sp. nov. is established as new to science. The occurrence of the previously known free-living cheilostomes (Cupuladria, Reussirella, Lunulites) and boring ctenostomes is reviewed with regard to the phenomenon of the Bryozoan Event which spread over the Paratethys basins in Europe. The extreme shallowness of this basin and its apparently peculiar environmental conditions are inferred to have prevented the contemporaneous Bryozoan Event from developing here within the world-famous organic communities of the Korytnica Basin.