Flustra bouchardii Audouin, 1826, erected without description for a Mediterranean bryozoan species illustrated by Savigny (1817), remained enigmatic. It is shown here that this forgotten species belongs in Monoporella species (Cheilostomata, Monoporellidae), is common in the Eastern Mediterranean and was erroneously considered to be an Indo-
Pacific species. Monoporella bouchardii is endemic to the Central and Eastern Mediterranean and might be a relict of the warm water pre-Messinian fauna. Its endemism is attested by the lack of records of any Monoporella species from the nearby Atlantic and the Red Sea, except for specimens recently discovered in the southern part of the Gulf of Suez. The similarity between these specimens and M. bouchardii suggests that they represent a sibling species or a case of anti-Lessepsian migration.
