Pseudolepralia ellisinae Silén, 1941

Martino, Emanuela Di, 2023, Scanning electron microscopy study of Lars Silén’s cheilostome bryozoan type specimens in the historical collections of natural history museums in Sweden, Zootaxa 5379 (1), pp. 1-106 : 61-62

Pseudolepralia ellisinae Silén, 1941

( Fig. 32 ; Table 30)

Pseudolepralia ellisinae Silén, 1941: 39 , figs 47–51. Material examined. Holotype by original designation UPSZTY 2469 , Bonin Islands (Ogasawara), Japan; depth 45–60 m. Leg. Prof. S. Bock 1914.

Remarks. A thorough description of this species, accompanied by SEM micrographs of part of the holotype under the former catalogue number #372, is given in Gordon (1993, pp. 216–218, figs 33–37), and therefore omitted here. Specifically, Gordon (1993) studied the nature of the frontal shield of this peculiar species, pointing out that it is a cryptocyst and not a gymnocyst as described in Silén (1941, 1942b), and concluding that it is of the umbonuloid type (see also Sandberg 1977). Gordon (2000) suggested that either a cribrimorph or arachnopusiid ancestor might be plausible for Pseudolepralia .

Figures

FIGURE 32. Pseudolepralia ellisinae Silén, 1941. Holotype UPSZTY 2469, Bonin Islands, Japan. A. General view of the colony. B. Two autozooids with complete lamina and associated avicularia. C, D. Autozooids with incomplete frontal shield at different stage. E. Close-up of avicularia with open mandibles. F. Ovicellate zooids, some with broken ooecium. Scale bars: A, F = 200 µm; B–D = 100 µm; E = 50 µm.