Bythopora meeki

• Zoarium Morphology: Ramose; usually slender, but sometimes larger
• Zoecia: Oblique apertures, narrowing above; acanthopores strong, usually one per zooecia (never numerous)
• Mesozooids: Few
• Monticules: Smooth
• Maculae: N/A

• Above is the same description given for the genus. B. meeki is distinguishable by its more robust zooarium and less oblique apertures

McFarlan (1931):

• Genus: Zooarium of smooth, slender branches, with small oblique zooecia, the apertures narrowing above and with channeled interspace. Mesopores few. Acanthopores never numerous.

Bassler (1906):

• The type lot of Chaetetes meeki James contains, besides the well-known form regarded by Nicholson as a variety of Monticulipora gracilis, specimens of Rhombotypa quadrata (Rominger), Homotrypa communis Bassler, an undetermined species, and a ramose example of Homotrypa flabellaris Ulrich. All of these species agree in but one feature, the general form of the zoarium, and also show how little value can be attached to this character alone. Strangely enough with such a mixture, James’s descriptions are correct since he recognizes the relationship of his species with Chaetetes (now Bythopora) gracilis and gives good comparisons between the two forms. Evidently, he based his remarks upon a few of his “types” and these happened to be of the species now recognized as Bythopora meeki.
• The various species of Bythopora are so much alike in internal structure that it is not strange that Nicholson considered the species under discussion only a variety of his Monticulipora gracilis. However, the fact that it occupies and is characteristic of a different geological horizon, and always forms a considerably larger zoarium, seems to me reason enough for its rank as a distinct species. Bythopora gracilis forms long slender stems seldom over 3 mm. in diameter and characterizes the Fairview and McMillan formations, while the branches of B. meeki are seldom less than 6 or 7 mm. in diameter, and occur only in the Waynesville formation of the Richmond group.

Nickles & Bassler (1900):

• Bythopora Miller and Dyer: Zoarium ramose, branches usually slender, sometimes of considerable size; zoecia practically without diaphragms; apertures oblique, narrowing above; interspaces caniculate; mesopores few; acanthopores comparatively strong, rarely more than one to each zooecium, sometimes wanting.

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