Lophopodella capensis ( Sollas, 1908 ) var. michaelseni, Kraepelin, 1914

Wood, Timothy S., 2020, Review of freshwater Bryozoa (Phylactolaemata) of Central Africa with descriptions of two new species, Zootaxa 4820 (3), pp. 581-600 : 583-584

Lophopodella capensis ( Sollas, 1908) var. michaelseni

( Fig. 1a )

Lophopus capensis Sollas, 1908: p. 264 , text figs 1–8

Lophopus capensis var. michaelseni, Kraepelin, 1914: p. 63 , pl. I, figs 4, 6, 11

Lophopodella capensis: Hastings, 1929: p. 130 , figs 1, 2; Marcus, 1934: p. 34.

Material examined. No. 201 (labeled “ paratype ”) collected in Namibia at a plateau lake in the Khomas Region near Neudamm, about 42 km northeast of Windhoek. The specimen is a gift from the Zoologische Museum in Hamburg .

Description. In life, Lophopodella capensis has a gelatinous, nontubular colony up to 20 mm in diameter. In typical lophopodid fashion, the zooids originate by budding at the outer periphery and gradually migrate towards the center. In this species the statoblast is distinguished by a prominent spine extending from each end and bearing minute hooks ( Fig. 1a ). Unfortunately, the MRAC specimen was contracted into a tight mass and could not be examined without damaging the tissues. There are no more than two statoblasts.

Remarks. Kraepelin (1914) believed the michaelseni variety was warranted by details of the statoblast: a larger number of hooks on the spine, a slight truncation at the poles, and a broader, more rounded shape of the capsule. While these features are confirmed in the MRAC material ( Fig. 1a ), Hastings (1929) considered them to be well within the normal range of variation for this species. New material and genetic analysis should easily resolve this issue. The type locality for L. capensis is Florida Lake in South Africa, a 24 ha water body that is now part of the city park system of Johannesburg.

Figures

FIGURE 1. Lophopodella statoblasts from the MRAC collection and from illustrations by Kraepelin (1914). (a) Specimen No. 201, Lophopodella capensis var. michaelseni; (b) Specimen No. 202, L. stuhlmanni with broad polar truncation; (c) L. thomasi with narrow polar truncation; (d) L. stuhlmanni (fig. 1c, d from Kraepelin, 1914). Scale bar for all statoblasts = 200 μm.