Parasmittina sp. 1

Fig. 12 D–F

Material

MALAYSIA: MSL BRY021b, Kuah jetty, Langkawi, on fouled rope hanging from jetty (with P. winstonae).

Description

Colony encrusting, multiserial, unilamellar. Ancestrula and early astogeny not observed. Autozooids subhexagonal, small, about 0.30–0.32 mm long by 0.25–0.28 mm wide; boundary walls salient with a fine fissure; frontal shield convex, coarsely pustulose, marginal areolar pores large, no pseudopores; secondary orifice elliptical, about 0.10–0.12 mm wide, lappets highest proximolaterally, lyrula variable, typically narrow, 13–18 μm wide at tip; oral spine bases not observed; ovicell hyperstomial, broad, about 0.12–0.16 mm long by 0.15–0.20 mm wide, ectooecium with about 30 ridged pores, proximal and distal edges of ovicell overgrown by cryptocystal calcification. Avicularia of three types: (1) adventitious acuminate avicularia present on some proximal frontal shields, about 0.11 mm long by 0.07 mm wide, usually distally or distolaterally directed, rostrum an acute triangle, tip raised, rostral shelf shallow, cross-bar calcified, opesia semicircular; (2) adventitious spatulate avicularia present on some frontal shields, about 0.14 mm long by 0.05 mm wide, directed proximally or laterally towards autozooid median line, rostrum rounded with deep shelf, cross-bar calcified, opesia semicircular; (3) vicarious avicularia large, 0.23–0.38 mm long by 0.13–0.15 mm wide, scattered, directed proximally, rostrum initially tapering before becoming parallel-sided, tip well rounded, distal edge slightly serrated, rostral shelf deep, occupying half or more of rostrum length, cross-bar calcified, concave, opesia relatively small, crescent shaped (Fig. 12F).

Remarks

It has not been possible to identify this species of Parasmittina despite the combination of distinctive large vicarious avicularia and small adventitious avicularia of spatulate and acuminate types. Pending a more detailed study and a comprehensive comparison with the myriad of species of Parasmittina, it is therefore left in open nomenclature as Parasmittina sp. 1.