Celleporaria carvalhoi ( Marcus, 1939 )

Almeida, Ana C. S., Souza, Facelucia B. C., Menegola, Carla & Vieira, Leandro M., 2017, Diversity of marine bryozoans inhabiting demosponges in northeastern Brazil, Zootaxa 4290 (2), pp. 281-323 : 297-299

Celleporaria carvalhoi ( Marcus, 1939)

( Figures 42–45 ; Table 4)

Holoporella carvalhoi Marcus, 1939: 158 , pl. 12, fig. 23A–D; Marcus 1949: 2.

Celleporaria carvalhoi: Souza 1989: 499 ; Vieira et al. 2008: 16; Almeida et al. 2015b: 4.

Material examined. UFBA 1610 , Camamu Bay, 13°53’S, 38°59’W, 18–20 m, coll . October 2012 (on sponge Haliclona (Soestella) melana ); UFBA 1611 , UFBA 2393 , Camamu Bay , 13°53’S, 38°59’W, 18–20 m, coll . October 2012 (on sponge Halichondria sp.); UFBA 1945 , Camamu Bay , 13°53’S, 38°59’W, 18–20 m, coll . October 2012 (on sponge Topsentia sp.).

Description. Colony encrusting, multilaminar. Zooids primarily subrectangular becoming irregularly polygonal, convex, limited by slightly raised lateral walls, frontal budded zooids irregularly oriented. Frontal shield heavily calcified, rugose, becoming nodular, imperforate except for 4–10 large marginal pores. Primary orifice occupying about one-third of zooidal length, D-shaped, wider than long, sunken, with arcuate and broad distal edge and an almost straight proximal border. Two to four oral spines often seen in young zooids. Condyles and suboral avicularium absent. Secondary orifice transversely elliptical, raised more proximally than distally, heavily calcified, forming a suboral tapering umbo, frequently obscuring the primary orifice. Frontal avicularia small, frequently placed near zooidal margin, often disto-laterally directed, complete crossbar, lanceolate rostrum, proximal edge rounded, calcified palate occupies distal third of rostral length; distal edge forming a more or less acute tip. Large interzooidal avicularia, longer than wide, with complete crossbar, spatulate rostrum, palate calcified in distal part with rounded proximal edge. Ovicells not seen.

Remarks. Celleporaria carvalhoi is here characterized using SEM images for the first time since its original description by Marcus (1939). This species has zooids with large marginal pores, a D-shaped primary orifice obscured by a peristome with a suboral tapering umbo, adventitious avicularia with a lanceolate rostrum and large avicularia somewhat spatulate in form. Specimens studied by Marcus (1939) were found encrusting corals. Here we found colonies of C. carvalhoi attached to both rugose and smooth-textured sponges.

Distribution. Atlantic: endemic to Brazil (Bahia, Espírito Santo and São Paulo) ( Vieira et al. 2008).

Metrarabdotos unguiculatum: Souza 1989: 499 .

Metrarabdotos jani Winston, Vieira & Woollacott, 2014: 198 , fig. 38 (cum syn.).

Material examined. UFBA 1606 , Camamu Bay, 13°53’S, 38°59’W, 18–20 m, coll . October 2012 (on sponge Timea sp.); UFBA 1607 , Camamu Bay , 13°53’S, 38°59’W, 18–20 m, coll . October 2012 (on sponge Haliclona (Soestella) melana ); UFBA 1176 , Camamu Bay , 13°53’S, 38°59’W, 18–20 m, coll . October 2012 (on sponge Petrosia (Petrosia) weinbergi ); UFBA 1177 , Camamu Bay , 13°53’S, 38°59’W, 18–20 m, coll . October 2012 (on sponge Halichondria sp.).

Remarks. Metrarabdotos jani was previously misidentified as Metrarabdotos unguiculatum ( Canu & Bassler, 1928b) ( Marcus 1955; Santana et al. 2009), but Winston et al. (2014) distinguished them by the ooecium (centrally imperforate in M. jani and porous in M. unguiculatum ). Other distinct characters of M. jani are the encrusting colonies, large elongate zooids, orifice with U-shaped sinus and single to paired latero-oral avicularia placed below the orifice and with rostrum reaching the edge of the peristome ( Fig. 47 ) (Winston et al. 2014).

Some Metrarabdotos species were found attached to seagrass rhizomes ( Cheetham et al. 2007), but the association between the genus and sponges is here reported for the first time. Metrarabdotos jani was found attached to the rugose-textured sponge Petrosia (Petrosia) weinbergi van Soest, 1980 and to the smooth-textured sponges Halichondria sp. ( Fig. 14 ), Haliclona (Soestella) melana and Timea sp.

Distribution. Atlantic: endemic to Brazil (Bahia, Espírito Santo and Rio de Janeiro) (Winston et al. 2014).

Figures

FIGURES 42 – 47. 42 – 45. Celleporaria carvalhoi, UFBA 1610. 42, Group of autozooids with suboral umbos and frontal avicularia; 43, Autozooid showing D-shaped primary orifice and frontal avicularia with lanceolate rostrum; 44, Autozooids showing primary orifices and oral spines; 45, Autozooids and large interzooidal avicularia. 46 – 47. Metrarabdotos jani, UFBA 1606. 46, Overview of encrusting colony; 47, Autozooids showing pseudosinus, latero-oral avicularia, and a gonozooid (left). Scale bars: 42, 46 – 47 = 500 µm; 43 = 100 µm; 44 = 200 µm; 45 = 250 µm.

FIGURES 13 – 17. Some smooth-textured sponges analyzed in the study. Arrows indicate the bryozoans attached to the sponges. 13, Chondrilla nuculla; 14, Halichondria sp.; 15, Haliclona (Soestella) melana; 16, Timea sp.; 17, Topsentia sp. Scale bars: 1 cm.