Smittina migottoi, Vieira, Leandro M., Gordon, Dennis P., Souza, Facelucia B. C. & Haddad, Maria Angélica, 2010

Vieira, Leandro M., Gordon, Dennis P., Souza, Facelucia B. C. & Haddad, Maria Angélica, 2010, New and little-known cheilostomatous Bryozoa from the south and southeastern Brazilian continental shelf and slope, Zootaxa 2722, pp. 1-53 : 20-21

Smittina migottoi n. sp.

( Figures 40–43 , Table 9 )

Material examined. Holotype. MZUSP 0 297, Brazil, project REVIZEE South SCORE, RV ‘Prof. Wladimir Besnard’, station 6678. Paratypes. MZUSP 0298–0299, Brazil, project REVIZEE South SCORE, RV ‘Prof. Wladimir Besnard’, station 6678. Additional material. MZUSP 0 300, Brazil, project REVIZEE South SCORE, RV ‘Prof. Wladimir Besnard’, station 6661. MZUSP 0 301, station 6673.

Diagnosis. Colony encrusting, uni- to multilaminar; autozooids elongate with convex frontal shield, the peristome high with a transversely orientated proximal avicularium; lyrula anvil-shaped, large; ovicell small and bulbous, with scattered pores.

Etymology. Named in honour of Professor Alvaro E. Migotto (CEBIMar, Universidade de São Paulo, Brazil) in recognition of his considerable contribution to an appreciation of Brazilian marine biodiversity.

Description. Colony encrusting, uni- to multilaminar, maximum length of specimens 16 mm. Zooids somewhat elongate, the frontal shield evenly pseudoporous and convex. Primary orifice partly concealed by peristome, the lyrula anvil-shaped with well-developed alae. Peristome relatively high, subtubular, with surface granulation like the frontal shield but imperforate; peristomial rim thin, incorporating a curving, transversely orientated avicularium in the proximal rim, its overall shape like a teardrop but with the tip curving in the plane of the rim, the crossbar with a columella. Ovicell relatively small, bulbous, appearing at the distal side of the peristome where it is recumbent on the originating zooid; the surface of mature ovicells with very thin secondary calcification, granular, with scattered pores approximating the size and density of pseudopores.

Remarks. The number of species of Smittina Norman, 1903 in Brazilian waters is uncertain. Braga (1967) and Machado and Souza (1994) listed unnamed species in their publications. Earlier attributions of Brazilian species to Smittina (e.g. Marcus 1937, 1949) were prior to the recognition of genera such as Parasmittina and Smittoidea , to which those species have been subsequently transferred. Vieira et al. (2008) cited only one species of Smittina in Brazilian waters, viz. S. numa Marcus, 1949 , which has a nonpseudoporous frontal shield with only marginal areolae and belongs to Smittoidea . A pseudoporous frontal shield was described in S. smittiella from Espírito Santo ( Marcus 1955) [not Smittoidea malleolus ( Hincks, 1884) , as suggested by Vieira et al. (2008)], and this was recently synonymized with Smittina nitidissima ( Hincks, 1880) (see Harmelin et al. 2009, p. 180). At present, Smittina migottoi n. sp. comprises only the second named species from Brazil. Its distinctive peristomial avicularium and relatively small ovicell easily distinguish it from other species in the genus.

Distribution. Brazil: off São Paulo state, 99–147 m (present study).

Figures

FIGURES 40 – 43. Smittina migottoi n. sp., MZUSP 0 299 (part of the paratype specimen), off São Paulo, Brazil. 40, Colony; 41, autozooids; 42, ovicelled zooids with suboral avicularia; 43, close-up of orifice with lyrula.

Tables

TABLE 9. Measurements (in mm) of Smittina migottoi n. sp.

	n min–max	mean	SD
Autozooid length	20 0.716–1.025	0.845	0.086
Autozooid width	20 0.371–0.593	0.477	0.067
Secondary orifice length	20 0.228–0.284	0.254	0.017
Secondary orifice width	20 0.179–0.222	0.193	0.012
Avicularium length	20 0.117–0.167	0.142	0.016
Avicularium width	20 0.062–0.093	0.077	0.010
Ovicell length	20 0.161–0.247	0.193	0.012
Ovicell width	20 0.247–0.371	0.315	0.034