Amathia distans Busk, 1886

Almeida, Ana C. S., Souza, Facelucia B. C., Menegola, Carla & Vieira, Leandro M., 2017, Diversity of marine bryozoans inhabiting demosponges in northeastern Brazil, Zootaxa 4290 (2), pp. 281-323 : 289-290

Amathia distans Busk, 1886

( Figs. 22–23 )

Amathia distans Busk, 1886: 33 , pl. 7, fig. 1; Vieira et al. 2008: 10; Fehlauer-Ale et al. 2011: 56 , figs. 3, 4, 6, 8, 10 (cum syn.); Migotto et al. 2011: 269; Marques et al. 2013: 271; Vieira et al. 2014: 514; Almeida et al. 2015b: 3.

Material examined. UFBA 1581 , UFBA 2349–50 , Todos os Santos Bay, 13°00’S, 38°32’W, 3–8 m, coll. 2013 (on sponge Callyspongia sp.) ; UFBA 1600 , UFBA 2351 , Camamu Bay , 13°53’S, 38°59’W, 18–20 m, coll. October 2012 (on sponge Dysidea etheria ) ; UFBA 1617 , UFBA 2352–53 , Camamu Bay , 13°53’S, 38°59’W, 18–20 m, coll. October 2012 (on Mycale angulosa ).

Remarks. Fehlauer-Ale et al. (2011) redescribed A. distans and stated the bright yellow pigment spots in stolonal and zooidal surfaces, the thickly cuticularised slender stolon ( Fig. 22 ), and the autozooids organized in clockwise and anticlockwise directions ( Fig. 23 ) as distinctive characters of the species. Amathia distans has been reported on a variety of substrata such as algae, bryozoans and anthropogenic surfaces ( Fehlauer-Ale et al. 2011). Here we present the first record of A. distans associated with the sponges Callyspongia sp., Dysidea etheria and Mycale angulosa .

Distribution. Atlantic: Brazil (Alagoas, Bahia, Espírito Santo, Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo and Paraná) ( Fehlauer-Ale et al. 2011).

Figures

FIGURES 18 – 23. 18 – 21. Crisia pseudosolena, UFBA 1577. 18, Branching colony and rhizoid; 19, Close-up of autozooids; 20, Entire colony with gonozooid; 21, Close-up of gonozooid. 22 – 23. Amathia distans, UFBA 1578. 22, Entire colony; 23, Close-up of stolon and autozooids. Scale bars: 18, 20 = 500 µm; 19, 21 – 23 = 100 µm.