Bantariella verticillata ( Heller, 1867 )

Seo, Ji-Eun, Chae, Hyun Sook, Winston, Judith E., Zágoršek, Kamil & Gordon, Dennis P., 2018, Korean ctenostome bryozoans-observations on living colonies, new records, five new species, and an updated checklist, Zootaxa 4486 (3), pp. 251-283 : 270-271

Bantariella verticillata ( Heller, 1867)

( Fig. 15 )

Valkeria verticillata Heller, 1867: 127 , pl. 6, fig. 4.

Mimosella verticillata: Harmer 1915: 81 , pl. 7, figs 8–10; Rho & Kim 1981: 62, pl. 3, figs 7–9; Rho & Seo 1986: 33; Seo 2005: 295, pl. 19, fig. 28; Seo 2011: 38, fig. 14.

Farrella [sp.]: Seo et al. 2016: 9.

Material examined. Specimens in Seo 2011, p. 38 [“WS106-1 (Guryongpo: 20.vii.1968), WS106-2 (Seogwipo: 2.v.1982)”]; Cheongpodae, Taean Coast National Park, Korean west coast, 36.6334° N, 126.2997° E, intertidal, 26 May 2017 (photographed live, specimen not preserved).

Description. Colony comprising narrow creeping stolons that produce single autozooids or small clusters of 2–4 autozooids at short intervals ( Fig. 15A, C ); these not budded directly from stolons but from short kenozooids that bud laterally from main distal stolon bud. Zooid length 0.37–0.50 mm, zooid width 0.13 mm ( Seo 2011). Autozooid tubes very narrow and pointed proximally, expanded medially, and narrowed again to terminal quadrate orifice. Autozooid walls shiny, smooth, well-cuticularized, but transparent enough to see retracted polypides; no gizzard. Sucker-like kenozooids attach colony to substratum. Polypides with delicate setigerous collar, campylonemidan tentacle crown of 8 long thin tentacles, 6 held in scoop shape, curving toward each other at tips and 2 bent away from each other about mid-length ( Fig. 15B ). Reproduction not seen.

Remarks. We have followed Jebram (1973) Gordon (1984) and Vieira et al. (2014) in using the genus Bantariella for mimosellids with zooids arranged in clusters rather than paired or single. European Mimosella gracilis Hincks, 1851 differs from the Korean species in having feathery side branches, each with c. 15 paired zooids. Bantariella verticillata ( Heller, 1867) , also reported from the Indo-Pacific region and Korea ( Seo 2011), has fans of several zooids budded from kenozooids on either side of the stolon. Korean Bantariella is similar to Bantariella firmata ( Marcus, 1938) from Brazil but has smaller numbers of zooids per cluster. It does not have the radicles of Mimosella radicata Kubanin, 1992 , from the Russian coast of the Japan Sea. In addition to M. verticillata , two other species of Mimosella were described by Harmer (1915) in the Siboga Report— Mimosella bigeminata Waters, 1914 , with long unbranched stolons bearing long plumes of zooids, and Mimosella tenuis Harmer, 1915 , in which zooids are budded singly from kenozooids.

Distribution. Reported from Japan, Korea, and Indonesia, as well as various Pacific, Indian Ocean, to Atlantic locations. Korea, this study: Cheongpodae, Yellow (West) Sea coast, intertidal.

Figures

FIGURE 15. Bantariella verticillata (Heller, 1867), Cheongpodae, photographed live, specimen not preserved. A. Live colony on an intertidal stone. B. Campylonemidan tentacle crown with six tentacles forming a scoop shape and two angled away. C. Branching stolons and clusters of two to four zooids.