General description:
Bryozoans in this family may form encrusting, or erect and foliose colonies, arising from an encrusting base. The gymnocyst is absent or much reduced and the frontal surface of the zooids is membranous. The cryptocyst is variable in extent, but generally under-developed. Spines may be present around the opesia of the zooid. Species lack avicularia, pore chambers and broad-chambers,
The larvae are feeding planktonic cyphonautes which are triangular in shape and laterally compressed.
Taxonomic name: