Taxonomic revision of some lepraliomorph cheilostome bryozoans (Bryozoa: Lepraliomorpha) from Rio de Janeiro State, Brazil

Abstract

Lepraliomorph-grade ascophorans are the dominant group of bryozoans in most modern faunas. Here we describe five new species (Parasmittina alba sp. nov., Microporella proxima sp. nov., Reteporella antennata sp. nov., Stephanollona robustaspinosa sp. nov. and Turritigera buski sp. nov.) and record an additional five lepraliomorph species [Watersipora subovoidea (d'Orbigny, 1852), Schizoporella errata (Waters, 1878), Arthropoma cecilii (Audouin, 1826), Celleporina diota (Marcus, 1938) and Reteporellina evelinae Marcus, 1955] from the coastal waters off Rio de Janeiro State in Brazil. This increases the biodiversity of the bryozoan fauna from Brazil, and the number of species known from Rio de Janeiro State now totals 79.

Keywords:

• Bryozoa
• Lepraliomorpha
• taxonomy
• Brazil
• South Atlantic

Acknowledgements

Thanks are due to: the Instituto de Estudos do Mar Almirante Paulo Moreira and David C. Savi for collection of samples during the REVIZEE Program Pesca; Mary Spencer-Jones for help with the recent bryozoan collections at the NHM, London; Prof. John Ryland and Dr Joshua Mackie for information about Watersipora species; and Drs Peter Hayward and John Ryland for figure 4F. Comments from the referees helped in improving the final manuscript; and PETROBRAS provided a scholarship for L.V.R. Financial support was given to the Laboratório de Biologia de Porifera by Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES), Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) and Fundação Carlos Chagas Filho de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (FAPERJ).