Cristatella mucedo (Cuvier, 1798)

Satkauskienė, Ingrida, Wood, Timothy, Rutkauskaitė-Sucilienė, Jurgita, Mildazienė, Vida & Tuckutė, Simona, 2018, Freshwater bryozoans of Lithuania (Bryozoa), ZooKeys 774, pp. 53-75 : 53

Cristatella mucedo (Cuvier, 1798) Fig. 9

Material examined.

Colony from Snaigynas lake (Lazdijai district) collected in July 2016, floatoblasts from Rokai pond found in September 2016.

Description.

Colonies of C. mucedo are recognized by their elongated shape and colourless, transparent body wall. The length of colonies found varied from 5 to 10 cm ( Pajiedaitė 1933; this study). The large statoblasts are easily recognized by circular form with hooked spines radiating from the edges of the fenestrae on both valves (Fig. 9). Diameter of statoblasts was about 1 mm.

Distribution in Europe.

Cristatella mucedo is a common species in Lithuania, with a Holarctic distribution, occurring in Britain, Ireland, Europe, Asia and North America ( Økland and Økland 2000; Wood and Okamura 2005).

Remarks on habitat and ecology in Lithuania.

During this survey a few colonies of C. mucedo occurred in South Lithuania (Snaigynas lake), but statoblasts were found in various water bodies of different regions of the country (Table 1). Pajiedaitė (1933) noted that C. mucedo more often occurred in South Lithuania. She found colonies of C. mucedo without statoblasts in June/July and noted that statoblasts inside colonies appeared in first part of August. Numerous colonies with statoblasts were found at the end of September and they died late autumn once the water temperature dropped to 3 °C in November 1932 ( Pajiedaitė 1933).

Remarks.

A more detailed discussion of the ecology and life history of C. mucedo can be found in Okamura (1997).