Bryozoa of Floridan Oculina reefs Author Judith L Winston text Zootaxa 2016 4071 1 1 81 journal article 10.11646/zootaxa.4071.1.1 8ffe5a88-06f7-44af-95aa-5fd49e0302c4 1175-5326 260490 D47C792F-E91D-40A6-ABB7-FA7810578562 Genus Bellulopora Lagaaij, 1963 Bellulopora bellula ( Osburn, 1950) ( Fig. 3 ; Table 2 ) Colletosia bellula Osburn, 1950: 188 , pl. 29, fig. 1. Bellulopora bellula : Lagaaij 1963a: 183 , pl. 4, fig. 2; Winston 1982: 134; Winston & Håkansson 1986: 20, figs 46, 47. TABLE 2. Measurements (in mm) of Bellulopora bellula (Osburn, 1950) .
Lz Wz Lo Wo Lov Wov
N Mean 18 0.487 18 0.309 18 0.093 18 0.068 16 0.234 16 0.235
SD 0.046 0.022 0.012 0.006 0.029 0.014
Min 0.414 0.270 0.072 0.054 0.198 0.216
Max 0.576 0.360 0.108 0.072 0.288 0.252
Material examined. VMNH no. 70600; USNM 1283228. Description. Colonies small, unilamellar, encrusting calcareous substrata ( Fig. 3 A). Zooids oval, about 0.5 mm long, with very narrow gymnocyst surrounding frontal surface of 5–7 pairs of radiating kenozooidal costae with rows of slit-like lacunae between fusions. Orifice broadly cleithridiate ( Fig. 3 B, D), with small raised heterozooid on either side. Two oral spines. Ooecium hemispherical, closed by zooidal orifice, constructed of fused costae pertaining to distal kenozooid, with membranous frontal wall beneath, serving as ooecium floor. Ancestrula tatiform. Remarks. Osburn (1950) described this species based on material from the Gulf of California and Galapagos with 2–4 oral spines and avicularia. Floridan Oculina specimens have no mandibles on the avicularium-like heterozooids ( Fig. 3 B–D), their tips being membranous. However, zooid size and overall morphology are similar to west coast and Gulf of Mexico specimens, so the significance of other differences in heterozooid morphology is still unknown. In another rearrangement of cheilostome phylogeny Ostrovsky (2013) has argued that Bellulopora should be recognized as representative of a suborder independent of Flustrina, its unique kenozooidal brood chambers having originated independently from a malacostegan-grade ancestor with many kenozooidal mural spines. His classification is followed here. Distribution. Western Atlantic: Cape Hatteras to Florida and Gulf of Mexico . Also recorded from the Pacific coast.