Vitrimurella lata (Smitt, 1873)

Judith L Winston, 2016, Bryozoa of Floridan Oculina reefs, Zootaxa 4071 (1), pp. 1-81 : 42-44

Vitrimurella lata (Smitt, 1873)

( Fig. 23 ; Table 22 )

Material examined. VMNH. no. 70635, 70636; USNM no. 1283249.

Description. Colony encrusting unilaminar ( Fig. 23 A). Large, slightly convex zooids with smoothly calcified frontal wall with evenly spaced, depressed pores; lateral walls distinct, no marginal pores. Proximal to orifice is slightly raised peristome in form of a flattened, centrally joined costal collar. Autozooidal orifices slightly more than semicircular distally, shallowly V-shaped proximally, with curving round-edged condyles ( Fig. 21 B, C, E). Ooecia endozooidal. Fertile zooids distinguished primarily by shallower, more transversely elliptical orifices, with longer condyles ( Fig. 23 B, C, F). Frontal avicularia have been reported, but were absent in colonies from Oculina habitat .

Remarks. The species was recently placed in a new family, Vitrimurellidae , and genus (Winston et al. 2014). The name previously used for Recent species was based on a very different fossil genus, Tremoschizodina Duvergier, 1921 . Species of Vitrimurella have a gymnocystal frontal shield with depressed pores and a pair of joined costae closing the proximal edge of the orifice, suggesting that their ancestry is from a Trypostega -like form. The perforated ooecia of fertile zooids are probably homologous with those of Trypostega , but they are shorter an flatter (see Fig. 23 B).

Distribution. Reported from Florida, the Gulf of Mexico and West Africa.

Figures

FIGURE 21. Hippothoa flagell um Manzoni, 1870: A, colony trailing over substratum; B, zooids in profile, showing raised orifices; C, two autozooids; D, single autozooid; E, female zooid; F, group with autozooid and two female zooids. Scale bars: A, 1 mm; B, C, D, 0.3 mm; E, F, 0.1 mm.

FIGURE 23. Vitrimurella lata (Smitt, 1873): A, edge of colony; B, autozooids and three female zooids; C, female zooid (upper right); D, autozooid orifice; E, autozooid with calcified orifice; F, orifice of female zooid. Scale bars: A, 1 mm; B, C, 0.5 mm; D, F, 0.1 mm; E, 0.05 mm.

Tables

TABLE 22. Measurements in mm of Vitrimurella lata (Smitt, 1873)

Gemellipora lata Smitt, 1873: 36 , pl. 7, fig. 157.
Tremoschizodina lata: Canu & Bassler 1928a: 131 ,	pl.	21,	figs	1,	2,	text-fig. 28;	1928b:	90,	pl.	8,	fig.	1;	Cook	1968:	184;
Winston 1982: 137, fig. 64.
Vitrimurella lata: Winston et al. 2014: 184 .