Resolving the status of Pyriporoides and Daisyella (Bryozoa: Cheilostomata), with the systematics of some additional taxa of Calloporoidea having an ooecial heterozooid
Author
Gordon, Dennis P.
Author
Taylor, Paul D.
text
Zootaxa
2017
4242
2
201
232
journal article
36308
10.11646/zootaxa.4242.2.1
35c61ca1-c858-4f10-baa2-b4b2b72d1454
1175-5326
376356
88B94383-F912-4BBD-B9F0-5642002C496D
Olisthella plana
n. sp.
(
Fig. 8
A)
Material
examined.
Holotype
:
NIWA
95617
, NIC
Wellington
,
Stn
TAN
0413
/8,
36.8370° S
,
177.4647° E
1319– 1486 m
,
Whakatane Seamount
,
southern Havre Trough
,
8 November 2004
.
Paratype
:
NIWA
22519
, NIC
Wellington
,
Stn T
239, 30.1367° S,
178.5383° W
,
905 m
, NW of Macauley
Island
,
Kermadec Ridge
,
23 March 1982
.
Other material
:
NIWA
23168
, NIC
Wellington
, same data as for
holotype
.
Etymology.
Latin
planus
, level, flat, alluding to the flat cryptocystal shelf.
Description.
Colony unilaminar, multiserial, comprising fully contiguous autozooids in quincunx; maximum spread
3.6 mm
, hence small and spot-like. Autozooids more or less elongate-oval or of more irregular outline [ZL 610–945 (796); ZW 489–689 (582)]. Gymnocyst very little developed, mostly visible proximally and proximolaterally. Cryptocyst and opesia encircled by a raised granular rim that is nearly evenly circular or oval except where it is indented by oral-spine bases [CrL 478–700 (581); CrW 433–578 (506)]. Cryptocystal shelf moderately broad and flat, of nearly equal width proximally and laterally, curving inward just proximal of the spine bases and continuing as a narrow extension on each side to be level with the distal oral rim; surface evenly granular except for a conspicuous smooth band around the margin of the opesia. Opesia about twice as long as wide, a little constricted near the level of the proximalmost oral spines, but lacking actual condyles [OpL 221–389 (311)]. Opercular flap occupying entire area of opesia distal to indentations. Articulated oral spines only, three on each side, none mid-distally; no other opesial spines; 0–2 additional very tiny spines borne on gymnocyst, one either side of the proximalmost spine base. No avicularia. Ooecium hyperstomial, smooth-surfaced, with a longitudinally elongate excavation in the ectooecium bordered by a low, raised rim [OoL 300–322 (311); OoW 256–289 (281)]. Ooecial kenozooid extremely well developed, projecting well beyond the ooecium distally, having a small opesial foramen and extensive sunken, flat granular cryptocyst bounded by a lateral gymnocyst, and a tiny single adventitious spine borne mid-distally. Interzooidal kenozooids rare, more or less elongate-oval [KL 312]; intrazooidal kenozooids formed by regenerative budding within some autozooidal cystids, their surface superficially appearing as opesial closure plates; occupying only the area beneath the opesia, not the entire cystid (as seen from beneath); each with a small foramen surrounded by a granular area of cryptocyst. Ancestrula not seen.
Remarks.
Of the species described above,
O. plana
n. sp.
most resembles
O. contigua
n. sp.
, differing in several features, however, especially the lack of pericryptocystal spines and well-developed gymnocystal spines, as well as the coarse granularity of the cryptocyst and minimum development of the gymnocyst. The ooecium is lacking in
O. contigua
n. sp.
, so no comparison can be made in this regard. The ectooecial excavation and the exceptional development of the ooecial kenozooid in
O. plana
n. sp.
stand out as highly diagnostic, inviting comparison with the genus
Megapora
Hincks, 1877
. Both of these characters are found in the
type
species from Europe,
Megapora ringens
(
Busk, 1856
)
(cf.
Hayward & Ryland 1998
, fig. 58B;
Di Martino & Taylor 2012
, figs 41, 42), although the ooecial kenozooid is rather smaller in
M. ringens
. Despite the similar reproductive features,
M. ringens
differs significantly from
O. plana
n. sp.
in having a trifoliate opesia and a cryptocystal ridge that is
within
the cryptocyst, not separating it from the gymnocyst.
It was initially thought that
O. plana
n. sp.
might represent a new genus; inter alia, whereas the ooecial kenozooid is wholly concealed from frontal view in
O. occlusa
n. sp.
and
O. alma
n. sp.
, in
O. plana
it is exceptionally well developed, projects distad from the ooecium and has a frontal foramen, cryptocyst and spine. Additional discriminating characters include horizontal lateral extensions of the cryptocystal shelf as far as the distal zooidal rim and a discrete smooth band of calcification bordering the opesia. Ooecia are so far unknown in the congeners
O. contigua
n. sp.
and
O. mimica
n. sp.
; when discovered they will no doubt shed further light on relationships within the genus. In the cladistic analysis presented here (
Fig. 15
),
Olisthella
n. gen.
would be rendered paraphyletic if
O. plana
n. sp.
were segregated as a new genus.
Distribution.
Endemic to the
New Zealand
EEZ, where it is known only from the central and southern Havre Trough at
905–1486 m
depth, encrusting small volcanic clasts.