Lifuella gorgonensis ( Hastings, 1930 )

Ramalho, Laís V. & Calliari, Lauro, 2015, Bryozoans from Rio Grande do Sul Continental Shelf, Southern Brazil, Zootaxa 3955 (4), pp. 569-587 : 584-585

Lifuella gorgonensis ( Hastings, 1930)

( Figs 9 A–D)

Hippoporella gorgonensis Hastings, 1930: 723 , figs 62–72; Marcus 1937: 99, fig. 53; Marcus 1941: 23, fig. 19; Lagaaij 1963: 191, fig. 3; Soule & Soule 1964: 21, fig. 6; Cook 1968: 190.

Material examined. Parcel do Carpinteiro, Rio Grande do Sul: MNRJ- 1183, am13 pc 0 3, 32°15.629’S, 51°44.754’W, 25 meters depth, 21 September 2007; MNRJ-1177, am12, 32°16.724’S, 51°47.111’W, 25 meters depth.

Description. Colony encrusting with circular growth ( Fig. 9 A); white colour when dried. Autozooids hexagonal, almost as long as wide (307–387 (343) µm long x 267–387 (331) µm wide), very well marked when young, but without sutures or clear borders when older ( Fig. 9 A–B). Frontal wall irregular, convex with a line of rounded areolar pores (8–11) around the zooid. Orifice bell-shaped, slightly wider than long (67–80 (77) µm long x 80 –93 (90) µm wide) with four oral distal spines. Anter smooth separated of the poster by two inwards denticles. Median umbo located proximal to orifice, usually broken; sometimes also occurring on the lateral side of the orifice ( Fig. 9 B).

One or two small avicularia (44–67 (56) µm long) located laterally below or above the orifice; mandible triangular, directed laterally on the elevation of the frontal wall; crossbar complete ( Fig. 9 C–D).

Oecium hyperstomial, wider than long (122–211 (162) µm long x 178–233 (201) µm wide), surface imperforate but irregular; umbo present on the central region; two to four areolar pores around the border ( Fig. 9 C– D).

Geographic distribution. World: Galapagos Island, California, Colombia and Panama, (Pacific coast), West Africa (Atlantic coast) ( Hastings 1930; Lagaaij 1963; Soule & Soule 1964; Cook 1968); Brazil: São Paulo, Paraná ( Marcus 1937, 1941), and Rio Grande do Sul States (Parcel do Carpinteiro (present study).

Remarks. Gordon & d’Hondt (1997) erected Lifuella to include tropical to warm temperate species assigned to Hippoporella that present a smooth anter and well developed oral spines. Other Hippoporella species with beaded anter must be included in Fodinella Tilbrook et al., 2001 . The species described here has a smooth anter and four oral distal spines and was included in Lifuella .

Marcus (1937) mentioned that there is a great variability among the colonies of L. gorgonensis ( Hastings, 1930) with some of them very simple (young colonies) and others with well developed umbo peristomial and branched (proximal and lateral umbo), different kinds of avicularia, and number of spines varying from 2 up to 6. However, Cook (1968) and Soule & Soule (1964) mentioned variations on the umbo in L. gorgonensis , but maintained fixed the number of spines as four, eight up to 13 areolar pores, and one to more avicularia scattered on the zoecia.

Our material is very similar to the young colonies described by Marcus. It has four distal spines, lateral avicularia are present but large avicularia on the zoecia were not observed. Thus, we believe the material collected at Rio Grande do Sul is L. gorgonensis . This species was mentioned to occur in São Paulo and Paraná states ( Marcus 1937, 1939, 1941), and this record at Rio Grande do Sul State enlarges its distribution.

Figures

FIGURE 9. Hippoporella gorgonensis Hastings, 1930 (MNRJ- 1183). A, general view of a colony with fertile and non-fertile zooids and the growing margin; B, zooids at the colony margin, showing oral-spine bases, suboral mucrones, areolar-septular pores and ooecia; C, broken ooecia of fertile zooids; note the suboral umbo and adventitious avicularium of the zooid at left; D, fertile zooids showing ooecia with an apical umbo. Scalebars: A, 500 µm; B – D, 200 µm; C, 100 µm.