Parasmittina egyptiaca (Waters, 1909)

Venkatraman, C., Padmanaban, P., Louis, Soja & Shrinivaasu, S., 2018, Marine bryozoans of Gujarat and Maharashtra, Records of the Zoological Survey of India 118 (4), pp. 389-404 : 395

13. Parasmittina egyptiaca (Waters, 1909) (Plate 2c)

Locality: Mayakarwadi, Ratnagiri, Maharashtra, 17° 03’

88.2 N

Substratum: Dead coral rubble

Description: Colony is encrusting, mostly unilaminar and occasionally multilaminar. Autozooids are quadrangular to hexagonal, regularly arranged in files or in quincunx, separated by deep grooves or superposed. Pores small and areolae large; tubercular. Primary orifice square to rounded, slightly broader than long. Secondary orifice is with a narrow or broad sinus, demarcated by two cusps usually observed when narrow. Peristome is moderate, at most slightly raised and interrupted distally, with two lateral, triangular lappets joined together by a low, proximal collar. Lyrula is short and often narrow. Frontal shield is moderately convex and markedly nodular. Rostral tip is somewhat broad. Avicularia usually polymorphic 1. small, acute or oval, directed proximally, 2. sometimes a large spatulate and 3. oval or acute, mostly small, becoming excessively numerous in the superposed regions. Ovicells are of moderate size, globular, raised, ecto oecium sometimes extensive with regularly arranged small pores.

Records from Indian waters: Quilon and West Coast

Distribution: Sudanese Red Sea, Suez Canal region, Sulu Archipelago, Sumbawa, Banda Sea, New Guinea and Aru Island.