Beania klugei Cook, 1968

Vieira, Leandro M., Migotto, Alvaro E. & Winston, Judith E., 2010, Shallow-water species of Beania Johnston, 1840 (Bryozoa, Cheilostomata) from the tropical and subtropical Western Atlantic, Zootaxa 2550, pp. 1-20 : 6-7

Beania klugei Cook, 1968

( Figs 7, 8, 20; Table 1)

Beania intermedia: Marcus 1937: 61 , pl. 13, fig. 30; 1939: 113; 1949: 2; Osburn 1940: 398; Maturo 1966: 579, fig. 18. Non Diachoris intermedia Hincks, 1881 .

Beania klugei Cook, 1968: 165 , figs 2 A,B; Winston 1982: 131, fig. 46; Cook 1985: 119, fig. 4 A; Winston & Håkansson 1986: 18, fig. 39; Fransen 1986: 82, figs 27 A–C; Tilbrook et al. 2001: 46; Vieira et al. 2008: 18 (checklist); Ramalho et al. 2010: 501, fig. 2.

Material examined. MZUSP 0 23, Beania intermedia, Santos , São Paulo state, Brazil, E. Marcus det. (1938) on rock; MZUSP 0 72, 210–211, 252, 265, 269, 382 – 390, 404; UFAL 0 34, Maceió, Alagoas state, 27.iv. 2006, on hydroids; UFAL 0 51, Maceió, Alagoas state, 24.iv. 2006 on bryozoans; VMNH 2569.00, Beania klugei, Spanish Anchor , off West Palm Beach, Florida, USA, coll. Littler and Littler, 15.vii. 1999 on algae; VMNH 3150.01, Beania klugei , North Beach, Fort Pierce, St. Lucie County, Florida, USA, coll. J. E. Winston 21.vi. 2003, on drift alga with Beania hirtissima (= B. americana ).

Description. Colony uniserial, sometimes branching laterally, attached loosely to the substratum, often with a portion free from the substratum. Zooids transparent yellowish-tan in color, large, boat-shaped, with a flat frontal membrane and rounded abfrontal surface; short connective tubes slender: a proximal tube with zooid budded from the one proximal or proximal-lateral to it, with occasional lateral chains of zooids. Operculum delicately chitinized and barely visible. Marginal spines absent. One pair of pedunculate avicularia on distal ends of zooids. Polypides with a large lophophore and 26 tentacles. Ovicells absent.

Remarks. Marcus (1937) used the name Beania intermedia for this species, but Cook (1968) showed that B. intermedia Hincks, 1881 is a spinous species with small zooids, and she introduced the name Beania klugei for populations of a large, uniserial Beania with small paired avicularia and no marginal spines. The species was recently discussed by Ramalho et al. (2010), who noted small differences between Brazilian and Florida ( USA) materials. Although there are slight differences in size between Brazilian and Florida colonies described by Winston (1982), specimens of both places are characterized by zooids without spines, similarshaped avicularia, and a lophophore with 26 tentacles.

Specimens recorded from the Great Barrier Reef by Hayward and Ryland (1995, p. 542) as B. klugei were redescribed by Tilbrook et al. (2001) as Beania cookae ; this species differs from B. klugei by the shape of the avicularia and by the presence of short lateral spines on some zooids.

Biological notes. The specimens studied by us were found from the intertidal to 15 m deep on rock surfaces, algae including Sargassum sp., ascidians, bryozoans [viz. Anguinella palmata , Bugula spp., Crisia pseudosolena and Amathia vidovici ] and hydroids ( Table 6). Some zooids of B. klugei were found with other bryozoans on a shipwreck off the coast of Pernambuco state ( Brazil), at 24 m deep. This species was previously recorded from the Caribbean at 10–64 m deep ( Osburn 1940). In Florida ( USA), it is common on hydroid stems and benthic algae, and on the drift alga Soliera tenera ( Winston 1982) ; a two-zooid colony was also found attached to a vibraculum of a Cupuladria doma colony ( Winston & Håkansson 1986). Both African ( Cook 1985) and Brazilian specimens have lophophores with 24–26 tentacles.

Distribution. Widely distributed in tropical and subtropical waters ( Tilbrook et al. 2001). Brazil: Paraná (present study), São Paulo ( Marcus 1937; present study), Rio de Janeiro ( Marcus 1949; Ramalho et al. 2010; present study), Alagoas (present study), Pernambuco ( Marcus 1939; present study) and Ceará (present study).