
Plumatellida
Phylactolaemata is a class of the phylum Bryozoa whose members live only in freshwater environments. Like all bryozoans, they filter feed by means of an extensible "crown" of ciliated tentacles called a lophophore, and like nearly all bryozoans (the only known exception being Monobryozoon), they live in colonies, each of which consists of clones of the founding member. Unlike those of some marine bryozoans, phylactolaemate colonies consist of only one type of zooid, the feeding forms known as autozooids. These are supported by an unmineralized "exoskeleton" made of gelatinous material or protein, secreted by the zooids. The class contains only one extant order, Plumatellida.
7 branches of this order, most-observed first

Pectinatellidae
familyPectinatellidae

Plumatellidae
familyPlumatellidae

Cristatellidae
familyCristatellidae

Fredericellidae
familyFredericellidae

Lophopodidae
familyLophopodidae

Stephanellidae
familyStephanellidae
Tapajosellidae
familyTapajosellidae
Where it lives
Recorded sightings
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geo-referenced records in GBIF, from museums, herbaria and field observers.
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In the stacks
Searching the stacks…
Every page naming Plumatellida in the Biodiversity Heritage Library →
This page is assembled live from iNaturalist, GBIF, Wikipedia, the Source Library and the Internet Archive. It is not yet part of the hand-edited codex. iNaturalist taxon 68110.