Rogicka joannae, Vieira, Leandro M., Gordon, Dennis P., Souza, Facelucia B. C. & Haddad, Maria Angélica, 2010

Vieira, Leandro M., Gordon, Dennis P., Souza, Facelucia B. C. & Haddad, Maria Angélica, 2010, New and little-known cheilostomatous Bryozoa from the south and southeastern Brazilian continental shelf and slope, Zootaxa 2722, pp. 1-53 : 23-25

Rogicka joannae n. sp.

( Figures 52–57 , Table 11)

Material examined. Holotype. MZUSP 0 304 (gold-coated specimen), Brazil, project REVIZEE South SCORE, RV ‘Prof. Wladimir Besnard’, station 6678. Paratypes. MZUSP 0 305, Brazil, project REVIZEE South SCORE, RV ‘Prof. Wladimir Besnard’, station 6678; MZUSP 0306–0307, station 6681. Comparative material. Mastigophora scopae Canu & Bassler , USNM 8573 (holotype specimen, figs 48–51), 12º48’S 38º W, Bahia, Brazil, 49 m.

Diagnosis. Colony encrusting, unilaminar, with zooids irregularly polygonal; frontal shield convex, raised distally than proximally, with several irregularly spaced cribellate pseudopores; orifice D-shaped, with proximal border mostly occupied by the broadly wide and shallow U-shaped sinus; very shallow rectangular condyles at the proximal corners; 3–4 series of long distal spines; ovicells hyperstomial, globular, closed by maternal operculum, with smooth frontal surface.

Etymology. Named for JoAnn Sanner (Natural History Museum, Smithsonian Institution, USA), for her consistent helpfulness to the bryozoological community in examining type and other specimens in the Smithsonian Institution.

Description. Colony encrusting, unilaminar, forming irregular nodules around small substrata.

Autozooids irregularly polygonal, convex, separated by deep grooves. Frontal shield convex, raised more distally than proximally, with about 50 irregularly spaced cribellate pseudopores. Orifice D-shaped, rounded distally and almost straight proximally, with proximal border mostly occupied by the broad rounded sinus; very shallow rectangular condyles at the proximal corners, virtually constituting proximal edge of orifice. Three or four series of long distal spines, usually 10 spines in first series, and 10–14 spines in additional series. Avicularia absent. Ovicells hyperstomial, globular, closed by maternal operculum; frontal surface smooth with some small cribellate pores.

n min–max mean SD Autozooid length 10 0.627–0.745 0.682 0.043 Autozooid width 10 0.425–0.639 0.496 0.060 Orifice length 10 0.164–0.215 0.176 0.017 Orifice width 10 0.165–0.229 0.185 0.019 Ovicell length 1 395 - - Ovicell width 1 316 - - Remarks. Canu & Bassler (1928a) described a new species Mastigophora scopae from Bahia, northeastern Brazil, at about 49 m depth. This species was characterized by zooids about 0.60–0.70 mm long and 0.40–0.50 mm width, with some frontal pores and distal spines. Examination of the holotype specimen (USNM 8573; figs 48–51) shows some differences between Canu and Bassler’s specimens and colonies herein described as Rogicka joannae n. sp.: R. scopae has zooids with several small pores, a deep U-shaped sinus and two to three series with 14–17 slender distal spines, while autozooids of R. joannae have a frontal shield with fewer pseudopores, larger and cribellate, an orifice with shallow and wider U-shaped sinus, and three to four series of 10–14 long robust spines. The New Zealand species Rogicka biserialis ( Hincks, 1885) differs from Brazilian R. joannae by the presence of two series of distal spines, a frontal surface with noncribellate pores (like R. scopae ), and a narrower proximal sinus than found in both R. joannae and R. scopae .

Gordon (1984) described a new species with cribellate pores, Rogicka oceanica , from the Kermadec Ridge ( New Zealand), which is distinguished from R. joannae in the smaller size of the autozooid and only 14 slender distal spines. Specimens recorded from the Caribbean as R. biserialis ( Flórez-Romero et al. 2007) also differ significantly from New Zealand specimens in the number of oral spines and the presence of avicularia , and probably represent a distinct species.

Distribution. Brazil: off São Paulo states, 99–168 m (present study).

Figures

FIGURES 52 – 57. Rogicka joannae n. sp., MZUSP 0 304 (holotype specimen), off São Paulo, Brazil. 52, Colony with ovicell; 53, close-up of autozooid; 54, close-up orifice. 55, close-up of frontal wall, note the single pores; 56, autozooid with several distal spines; 57, close-up of distal spines.