Scanning electron microscopy study of Lars Silén’s cheilostome bryozoan type specimens in the historical collections of natural history museums in Sweden
Author
Martino, Emanuela Di
text
Zootaxa
2023
2023-11-27
5379
1
1
106
https://www.mapress.com/zt/article/download/zootaxa.5379.1.1/52354
journal article
10.11646/zootaxa.5379.1.1
1175-5334
10209083
430102D2-4EAA-41B3-B57F-CC532F929DA3
Microporina okadai
Silén, 1941
(
Fig. 27
;
Table 25
)
Microporina okadai
Silén, 1941: 68
, figs 79–82, pl. 4, fig. 13, 14.
Material examined.
Holotype
by original designation
UPSZTY 2468
,
Okinose
,
Sagami
,
Japan
; depth
150–600 m
.
Leg. Prof. S. Bock
1914.
FIGURE 27.
Microporina okadai
Silén, 1941
. Holotype UPSZTY 2468, Japan. A. View of internodes at branch bifurcation. B. Close-up of autozooids, one without operculum. Arrows indicate putative opesiules. C, D. Close-up of autozooids, showing the arrangement in alternating back-to-back rows, and distal avicularia. The arrow in (C) pointing to the triangular downward curved mandible. E, F. Close-up of avicularia. Scale bars: A = 500 µm; B–D = 300 µm; E = 120 µm; F = 200 µm.
Description.
Colony erect, jointed, dichotomously branching (
Fig. 27A
); internodes straight, quadrangular in cross-section, quadriserial (
Fig. 27D
).
Autozooids elongate-rectangular (mean L/
W 3.70
), proximal margin concave, distal margin convex, arranged in alternating back-to-back series; cryptocyst forming a raised mural rim (50–60 µm wide), minutely granular with granules (5 µm or less in diameter) regularly aligned forming multiple concentrical rows, and modified to follow the outline of the avicularium at the distal edge (
Fig. 27E
); frontal cryptocyst immersed and flat with sparse granules, slightly coarser than those of the mural rim (8–10 µm), and unevenly distributed circular pseudopores (10–15 µm in diameter) (
Fig. 27B
); a pair of lateral opesiules at a short distance (
c.
40–50 µm) from the proximal margin of the orifice (
Fig. 27B
, see arrows).
Orifice semielliptical with straight or concave proximal margin, wider than long, outlined by a raised rim (
Fig. 27B
).
Avicularium adventitious, single, placed distally to most autozooids, oval (
Fig. 27D–F
); rostrum acutely triangular, raised, proximally directed; crossbar complete; mandible triangular with downward hooked tip (
Fig. 27C
, see arrow).
Ovicells absent.
Remarks.
The autozooid illustrated in
Fig. 27B
was the only one without a frontal membrane, in which lateral symmetrical depressions adjacent to the mural rim and at a short distance from the proximal margin of the orifice were observed. These structures were, therefore, interpreted as the ‘opesiulae’ described and drawn in
Silén (1941
, fig. 81). SEM images of an internode with well-defined opesiules are available from
Arakawa (2016
, fig. 9B).
Of the 12 species currently assigned to
Microporina
more than half are from the Pleistocene to Recent of
Japan
(
Bock 2023
). Based on the species comparison of
Arakawa (2023
, table 1), among the Japanese
Microporina
,
M. okadai
has the narrowest internodes and longest autozooids.