Beania metrii, Vieira, Leandro M., Migotto, Alvaro E. & Winston, Judith E., 2010

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 : 14

Beania metrii n. sp.

( Figs 26–29 ; Table 2 )

Material examined. Holotype: MZUSP 401.

Description. Colony reticulate, loosely encrusting, white in color, surface often heavily coated with mud and debris. Zooids close spaced and slightly overlapping distally; lightly calcified curving lateral and basal walls with some spines; zooids joined by 6 very short tubular processes. Frontal surface oval, membranous, broader proximally than distally, with the operculum in a narrower distal semicircular area surrounded by a halo of 8 spines; 8–10 pairs of small, often straight, lateral spines usually directed over the frontal membrane; lateral walls also with several straight spines, 6–16 on each side, projecting outwards. Avicularia and ovicells absent.

Remarks. Beania metrii n. sp., named after Rafael Metri (Universidade Estadual do Centro-Oeste, Brazil) who collected the specimen, is very distinct from the other reticulate species described here in its zooidal dimensions (bigger than other species), the number of frontal spines and very short connective tubes joining autozooids.

The distance between the midpoints of adjacent apertures of Beania metrii are similar to those described for Adriatic specimens of both B. cylindrica and B. hirtissima , but B. metrii is clearly distinguished by the number of spines in the distal halo. Beania hirtissima also differs in having bigger zooids and only five pairs of lateral spines.

Biological notes. The species occurred in a bank of calcareous algae ( Halimeda sp.) at Arvoredo Island (Santa Catarina state) between algal nodules in water ca 6–20 m deep ( Table 6).

Distribution. Atlantic. Brazil: Santa Catarina (present study).

Figures

FIGURES 24 – 29. Light micrography of reticulate species of Beania from the Brazilian coast. 24. Beania americana n. sp., MZUSP 415 (Holotype), São Paulo state. 25. Beania correiae n. sp., MZUSP 403 (Paratype), Alagoas state; 26 – 29. Beania metrii n. sp., MZUSP 401 (Holotype), Santa Catarina state; 26, colony; 27, distal end of colony; 28, close-up of a zooid; 29, close-up of a distal zooid of colony.