Hippoporella castellana, Winston, Judith E. & Vieira, Leandro M., 2013

Winston, Judith E. & Vieira, Leandro M., 2013, Systematics of interstitial encrusting bryozoans from southeastern Brazil, Zootaxa 3710 (2), pp. 101-146 : 138-139

Hippoporella castellana sp. nov.

( Fig. 24 ; Table 22)

Lz Wz Lo Wo Lov Wov N 16 16 10 10 4 4 Mean 0.299 0.222 0.070 0.075 0.081 0.122 SD 0.062 0.035 0.010 0.012 0.018 0.017 Min 0.180 0.162 0.054 0.054 0.072 0.108 Max 0.414 0.270 0.090 0.090 0.108 0.144 Material examined. Holotype: MZUSP 757 ( Fig. 24 B, D), measured specimen #2, BIOTA Stn 211. Paratypes: MZUSP 758–759, BIOTA Stn 211. MZUSP 760 ( Fig. 24 A, C), measured specimen #1, BIOTA Stn 205. MZUSP 761, measured specimen #3, BIOTA Stn 211. VMNH 70035, BIOTA Stn 211.

Supplementary video. http://cifonauta.cebimar.usp.br/taxon/hippoporella-castellana/

Etymology. From Latin castellum, diminutive of fort or castle.

Diagnosis. Sand-grain encrusting Hippoporella with 5 peristomial tubercles and an ovicell with a central tubercle.

Description. Colony encrusting grains of sand or shell, found most frequently on the edges of grains. Zooids erect, covered by smooth to rugose calcification with only marginal pores. Distal end of zooid is raised in a thick spiny peristome around the immersed primary orifice. Five conical or flat-topped projecting calcified tubercles, like castle turrets, ring the circular peristome rim. Primary orifice broad hoof-shaped. No avicularia. Ooecium also heavily calcified, broadly oval, with a projecting central tubercle and at least in some cases the suggestion of a lesscalcified central area; they are raised above the orifice at the level of the projecting tubercles of the peristome and have a vertical proximal wall with slight lateral indentations, opening well above the operculum of the maternal zooid. Polypides with 10 translucent white tentacles

Remarks. This species resembles interstitial Trematooecia psammophila Winston & Håkansson, 1986 from Florida in some characters, but it has a different ovicell, lacking the grid of pores that characterizes that species, and the new species has five projecting tubercles, instead of four as in T. psammophila . The non-porous ovicell of the new species with its central projection, as well as its hoof-shaped orifice, place it in Hippoporella . Both Hippoporella castellana and Trematooecia psammophila seem to prefer the ridge and raised edges of grains, and to settle on smaller rather than larger grain sizes.

Distribution. São Paulo state, Brazil.

Figures

FIGURE 24. Hippoporella castellana sp. nov.: A, colony attached to a serpulid tube fragment. B, another colony showing ovicelled zooids. C, close up of an orifice, with the bases of three articulated distal spines. D, distal end of an ovicelled zooid, with a tubercle on the ovicell and four peristomial tubercles. Scale bars: A, B, 0.2 mm; C, 0.05 mm; D, 0.1 mm.