Volgia (Bryozoa, Cystoporata): a rare occurrence from the Mississippian of Ireland

The Mississippian (Viséan) Oyster Hall Breccia Formation of Co. Kerry in southwestern Ireland has yielded a moderately diverse bryozoan fauna containing 14 taxa including two cryptostomes, seven fenestrates, three trepostomes and two cystoporates. The latter includes the first record of the distinctive hexagonellid genus Volgia Stuckenberg, 1905 from outside the Pennsylvanian type area in Russia or the Mississippian of mainland Europe. Preservation of a single colony, while not complete, is sufficient to allow a reconstruction of the overall cruciform zoarial form. It comprises four slender primary branches that emerge orthogonally to each other from a hollow basal attachment area, and which themselves further quadrifurcate producing another series of four short secondary branches.