Klugerella aragoi (Audouin, 1826)

Judith L Winston, 2016, Bryozoa of Floridan Oculina reefs, Zootaxa 4071 (1), pp. 1-81 : 37-38

Klugerella aragoi (Audouin, 1826)

( Fig. 20 ; Table 19 )

Flustra aragoi Audouin, 1826: 240 , pl. 10, fig. 1.

Membraniporella aragoi: Cook 1967: 332 , fig. 7; Winston 1982: 134, fig. 57.

Material examined. VMNH no. 70630; USNM no. 1283246.

Description. Colony encrusting, unilamellar ( Fig. 20 A). Zooids oval with smooth convex gymnocyst and vestigial band of granular cryptocyst surrounding large oval opesia. Articulated periopesial spines 10–12, flattened and curving over frontal membrane from edge of the gymnocyst laterally and proximally, meeting at zooidal center ( Fig. 20 B,C), sometimes bifurcating at tips; distalmost spines on oral rim 2–3, the middle spine lacking when ooecia present ( Fig. 20 C), the 2 lateral spines either side of operculum on each side, bifurcating nearer their bases than do remaining periopesial spines; in most colonies free ends of spines broken off early in life, but proximal portions may remain in place even after colony dies ( Fig. 20 F). No avicularia. Ooecia prominent, subglobular, with smooth surface around a central ectooecial window ( Fig. 20 B). Zooids connected by pore chambers that are membrane-covered in life ( Fig. 20 D).

Remarks. Specimens in Oculina rubble were all abraded and had lost all but the lower ends of the spines, but clearly belong to the common Floridan Klugerella illustrated by a more complete specimen in Winston (1982) (as Membraniporella aragoi ). Osburn (1950) and Cook (1967) considered Floridan and Caribbean specimens to be varieties of Klugerella aragoi from the Red Sea and that decision was followed by Winston (1982). The species has close affinities with Membraniporella petasus (Canu & Bassler, 1928a, p. 36, pl. 4, figs 1, 2), but the illlustrations of their specimens show a greater number of bifid costae that also appear to be more flattened and fused centrally.

Distribution. Western Atlantic: Cape Hatteras to Florida.

Figures

FIGURE 20. Klugerella aragoi (Audouin, 1826): A, colony; B, group of zooids, one with ooecium; C, zooids with some unbroken spines; D, zooid in side view, showing flattened spines and large pore chambers; E, another zooid with some spines remaining; F, close up of hollow spine tip. Scale bars: A, 0.2 mm; B, C, 0.1 mm; D, 0.02 mm, F, 0.01 mm.

Tables

TABLE 19. Measurements in mm of Klugerella aragoi Audouin, 1826.

	Lz	Wz	Lop	Wop	Lo	Wo	Lov	Wov
N	18	18	18	18	6	6	18	18
Mean	0.511	0.369	0.363	0.258	0.081	0.143	0.173	0.265
SD	0.036	0.028	0.033	0.027	0.010	0.020	0.021	0.025
Min	0.432	0.324	0.306	0.216	0.072	0.126	0.126	0.216
Max	0.576	0.432	0.45	0.324	0.09	0.18	0.198	0.306