The role of artificial habitats on fouling bryozoan fauna in the southwestern Atlantic.

Artificial habitats, such as harbours and marinas, are entry doors for the introduction and dispersal of species. Surveys on fouling community in these habitats help to understand preventing environmental impacts and management of invasive species. Thus, a survey on fouling bryozoan fauna was carried out along 17 artificial habitats (eight harbours and nine marinas) from three coastal stretches in Southwestern Atlantic. A total of 55 species were identified, including 13 non-native, 33 cryptogenic and nine native taxa. Only five bryozoan species were found in more than 75% of sampled sites. Our analysis revealed that bryozoan fouling communities in artificial habitats do not vary significantly between commercial and recreational localities. However, we also found that faunal assemblages varied significantly along Brazilian coastal stretches that are distinguished by environmental conditions, such as salinity and temperature.

Bryozoa from the reefs off the Amazon River mouth: checklist, thirteen new species, and notes on their ecology and distribution.

The reef system off the Amazon River mouth extends from Amapá state to Maranhão state along the Brazilian Equatorial Margin, encompassing more than 10,000 km2 of rhodolith beds and high-relief hard structures on the outer shelf and upper slope. This unique hard bottom mosaic is remarkable for being influenced by the turbid and hyposaline plume from the world's largest river, and also for representing a connectivity corridor between the Caribbean and Brazil. Bryozoans were recently recognized as major reef builders in the Southwestern Atlantic, but their diversity off the Amazon River mouth remained unknown. Here, we report on recent collections obtained from 23 to 120 m depth in Northern Brazil. Sixty-five bryozoan taxa were characterized using scanning electron microscopy, including 57, five and three taxa of Cheilostomatida, Cyclostomatida and Ctenostomatida, respectively. Cribrilaria smitti and three genera (Cranosina, Glabrilaria and Thornelya) are new records for Brazil, and 13 new species are herein described: Antropora cruzeiro n. sp., Cranosina gilbertoi n. sp., Cribrilaria lateralis n. sp., Crisia brasiliensis n. sp., Glabrilaria antoniettae n. sp., Micropora amapaensis n. sp., Parasmittina amazonensis n. sp., Plesiocleidochasma arcuatum n. sp., Poricella bifurcata n. sp., Pourtalesella duoavicularia n. sp., Stephanollona domuspusilla n. sp., Therenia dianae n. sp., and Thornelya atlanticoensis n. sp. Our results highlight the biodiversity significance of the Amazon reefs and the need for more comprehensive sampling to clarify the role of bryozoans in modern turbid-zone reefs and rhodolith beds.

Free-living bryozoans (Cheilostomatida, Cupuladriidae) from northeastern and northern Brazil.

Free-living bryozoans, unlike most cheilostomes, live unattached from the substratum on or within soft sedimentary bottoms. Bryozoans of the family Cupuladriidae Lagaaij, 1952 are probably the best-studied free-living representatives. In Brazil, eight species of cupuladriids have been reported to date, including some regarded as species complexes. This paper documents cupuladriid taxa from northeastern and northern Brazil based on the examination of 1236 colonies. Three species previously reported from Brazil are described: Cupuladria monotrema (Busk, 1884), Discoporella gemmulifera Winston Vieira, 2013 and Discoporella salvadorensis Winston, Vieira Woollacott, 2014. A new species, Cupuladria minuta n. sp., is erected; it differs from its congeners in having small, flat discoid colonies, with the central area up to the fifth astogenetic generation composed of vicarious avicularia with an auriform opesia, and quadrangular to rectangular basal sectors with 1-6 small openings per sector. Our results suggest that four species previously recorded from Brazil are doubtful-Cupuladria canariensis (Busk, 1859), Cupuladria biporosa Canu Bassler, 1923, Discoporella umbellata (Defrance, 1923) and Discoporella depressa (Conrad, 1841). Some Brazilian specimens previously assigned to Discoporella umbellata var. conica are re-assigned to D. salvadorensis. The species studied here frequently co-occur on mainly sandy and muddy bottoms at 8-130 m depth, as it is typical of most living populations of cupuladriids. The sedimentation rate, and thus the bottom composition, likely influence the distribution of cupuladriids in Brazil, with Cupuladria species being more common in stabler and coarser sea bottoms than Discoporella species, which tend to be more broadly distributed.

New species of Stylopoma (Bryozoa, Cheilostomata) from Bahia State, northeastern Brazil.

At date, seven species of Stylopoma Levinsen, 1909 are reported from the Brazilian coast, five of which are known from Bahia State in the northeastern region. Here we describe four new species of Stylopoma, all from Bahia State: Stylopoma corallinum n. sp., Stylopoma faceluciae n. sp., Stylopoma multiavicularia n. sp. and Stylopoma sinuata n. sp. Unlike the Caribbean species of Stylopoma, that mainly have rounded primary orifice and slit-like sinus, the morphology of the primary orifice of Brazilian taxa, including the new species presented here, is quite variable. In the newly described taxa, the sinus is drop-shaped in S. corallinum n. sp. and S. faceluciae n. sp., U-shaped in S. multiavicularia n. sp. and V-shaped in S. sinuata n. sp. Like congeners from the Caribe, S. corallinum n. sp., S. faceluciae n. sp. and S. multiavicularia n. sp. have avicularia on the surface of the ooecia. Remarks on the morphological characters currently used in Stylopoma taxonomy are provided, including a comparative table of all living species worldwide.

A new species of Hippomonavella (Bryozoa: Cheilostomata) from the Holocene and Recent of Argentina and Uruguay (Southwest Atlantic).

Hippomonavella charrua n. sp. is introduced based on material from the continental shelf off Uruguay. Bilaminar fragments of this species were also found in mid-Holocene deposits of Destacamento Río Salado Member, Canal de las Escobas Formation (Buenos Aires Province, Argentina), ca. 6,000 yr BP. Hippomonavella charrua n. sp. resembles H. brasiliensis Ramalho, Muricy Taylor, 2008, but differs from this species in its more triangular and protruding avicularia occurring in just a small proportion of zooids. Hippomonavella charrua n. sp. is the third species of the genus with both fossil and Recent representatives. The tatiform ancestrula and the early astogeny are described for the first time in a species of Hippomonavella.

Cribrilinids (Bryozoa, Cheilostomata) associated with deep-water coral habitats at the Great Bahama Bank slope (NW Atlantic), with description of new taxa.

Four cribrilinid bryozoans associated with deep-water corals (578-682 m depth) from the Great Bahama Bank slope, are described, two of them are new. The generic allocation of some species prompted us to raise the subgenera Puellina, Cribrilaria, and Glabrilaria to genus rank. The new combination Cribrilaria saginata (Winston, 2005) n. comb. is proposed. Genus Glabrilaria is reported from the NW Atlantic for the first time based on the description of Glabrilaria hirsuta Rosso n. sp. and Glabrilaria polita Rosso n. sp. The new genus Teresaspis Rosso n. gen. is erected, and Teresaspis lineata (Canu Bassler, 1928) n. comb. is proposed as its type species. The new genus Harmelinius Rosso n. gen. is erected for Cribrilina uniserialis (Harmelin, 1978). Both genera have uniserial colonies formed by slightly caudate zooids with extensive gymnocyst and a frontal shield of flattened costae. Teresaspis lineata n. comb., however, has costae with pelmatidia that are connected by few intercostal bridges and separated by intercostal spaces, four orificial costa-like processes with the proximal pair arching above the orifice, hyperstomial acleithral ovicells with a pseudoporous ooecium formed by the distal zooid or a kenozooid, two types of kenozooids (large with costate frontal shield and small with smooth shield and central opesia), and an ancestrula with costate frontal shield. Avicularia are apparently absent in this species. In contrast, the type species of Harmelinius Rosso n. gen. has costae lacking pelmatidia and which are separated by slit-like intercostal spaces. The hyperstomial cleithral ovicells have smooth ooecia with a median suture and without pseudopores, and are formed by a distal kenozooid associated with a small avicularium. Additional paired oral avicularia are occasionally present, as are large kenozooids with a central opesia. Oral spines or spine-like processes are absent. Taxonomy of the above reported cribrilinid genera is discussed in detail together with the geographic distribution of all mentioned taxa.

Bryozoa on disarticulated bivalve shells from Todos os Santos Bay, northeastern Brazil, with the description of two new species.

As sessile organisms, bryozoans are among the commonest components of the encrusting communities on hard substrata. On unconsolidated bottoms, benthic animals and their carapaces, including mollusk shells, represent potential surfaces for encrustation. Here we describe the bryozoan fauna growing on disarticulated bivalve shells collected intertidally on Itaparica beach, Todos os Santos Bay, northeast Brazil. We examined a total of 382 valves representing seven species of bivalves, among which we found 82 valves of three bivalve species to be encrusted by bryozoans, with 109 bryozoan colonies detected overall. We identified 11 cheilostome bryozoan species, among which Phidoloporidae and Smittinidae were the most diverse, with four and two species, respectively. We redescribed two bryozoan species, Parasmittina loxoides and Rhynchozoon phrynoglossum, and describe another two, Pleurocodonellina marcusi n. sp. and Rhynchozoon itaparicaensis n. sp., as new. A new combination for Cribella triangulata Canu Bassler, 1928 is proposed, including Calyptotheca tenuata Harmer, 1957 as a new junior subjective synonym of Calyptotheca triangulata n. comb. All but one of the 11 species have encrusting colonies; Licornia aff. diadema, forms erect branching colonies. For seven of the bryozoans, ours are the first records of these species growing on shells. Although the majority of bryozoans we studied have also been reported on other substrata, Rhynchozoon brasiliensis and Parasmittina loxoides were predominant in the fauna, comprising 79 (72%) of all colonies inventoried. Due to the lack of information on the distribution of these species in northeastern Brazil, further studies are needed to determine whether they show any substratum preference.

Bryozoan framework composition in the oddly shaped reefs from Abrolhos Bank, Brazil, southwestern Atlantic: taxonomy and ecology.

Bryozoans are a key group of sessile invertebrates in some reef frameworks but are typically neglected in environmental monitoring programs. Abrolhos Bank (Brazil) is the largest reef complex in the South Atlantic Ocean, encompassing several reef landscapes over an area of 46,000 km2. A transition takes place across the shelf from mangroves to soft sediments, coastal shallow reefs to a volcanic archipelago - surrounded by fringing reefs - and unique mushroom-shaped biogenic structures, with mesophotic pinnacle reefs, rhodolith beds, sink-holes and shelf break deep environments. The taxonomic composition of the bryozoan fauna was studied in 11 core samples taken from shallow to mesophotic mid-shelf reefs (4-25 m deep) on Abrolhos Bank by divers using a submersible drill. Of the 20 bryozoan species sampled, 17 are new records for Abrolhos Bank and seven species are new to science: Crassimarginatella winstonae n. sp., Parasmittina distincta n. sp., Parasmittina abrolhosensis n. sp., Hemismittoidea asymmetrica n. sp., Stylopoma variabilis n. sp., Stylopoma hastata n. sp., and Plesiocleidochasma acuminata n. sp. (described by Ramalho, Taylor Moraes). The most conspicuous species is Celleporaria atlantica. These results increase to 48 the total number of bryozoan species known in this region and reinforce the importance of this group as one of the main components apart from crustose coralline algae and corals of the reef framework-building community of Abrolhos Bank.

New deep Cheilostomata (Bryozoa) species from the Southwestern Atlantic: shedding light in the dark.

The present paper reports on 22 bryozoan species collected from 25 localities on the Southwestern Atlantic continental shelf and slope by the Instituto Español de Oceanografía vessel RV Miguel Oliver (2008-2010). Two new genera, Amynaskolia n. gen. and Biconcavus n. gen., and twenty new cheilostome species are described: Amastigia zigzag n. sp., Membranicellaria balanyai n. sp., Figularia dimorpha n. sp., Biconcavus batmani n. sp., Smittina acicularis n. sp., Smittoidea granulosa n. sp., Amynaskolia foramina n. sp., Mawatarius avilae n. sp., Mucropetraliella reticulata n. sp., Ipsibuffonella umbonata n. sp., Microporella gappai n. sp., Fenestrulina curviscutum n. sp., Fenestrulina multiflorum n. sp., Malakosaria cecilioi n. sp., Osthimosia incisa n. sp., Spigaleos simplex n. sp., Reteporella kuklinskii n. sp., Reteporella maryae n. sp., Reteporella taylori n. sp., Orthoporidra nova n. sp.. New taxonomic remarks are also included for two little-known species: Melicerita atlantica Busk, 1884 and Arachnopusia tubula Hayward Thorpe, 1988. Membranicellaria balanyai n. sp., Mawatarius avilae n. sp. and Ipsibuffonella umbonata n. sp. represent the third described species of their genera, whereas Spigaleos simplex n. sp., Malakosaria cecilioi n. sp. and Orthoporidra nova n. sp. are the fourth, fifth and sixth described species of their genera respectively. Spigaleos (Celleporidae) and Arachnopusia tubula (Arachnopusiidae), previously reported only from Antarctica, Ipsibuffonella (Buffonellodidae), reported from tropical and subtropical regions, and Mucropetraliella (Petraliidae) all represent first records for the Patagonian region, expanding their geographic distributions northwards and southwards, respectively. These results highlight the importance of sampling the slope and deep waters of South American and Antarctic margins and basins, filling significant gaps in the knowledge of the biodiversity and biogeographic ranges of certain taxa in these unique and varied ecosystems.

The non-indigenous bryozoan Triphyllozoon (Cheilostomata: Phidoloporidae) in the Atlantic: morphology and dispersion on the Brazilian coast

Bryozoans constitute an important component of marine-fouling communities of anthropogenic substrata. Many species have been reported as exotic or widespread around the world, typically in ports and harbors of non-polar regions. Here we present the first record of a species of the bryozoan Triphyllozoon in the Atlantic Ocean. Triphyllozoon arcuatum (MacGillivray, 1889), described originally from Australia, is reported herein from natural substrata in Singapore and natural and artificial substrata in Brazil. Although easily recognizable, the species has not been previously reported from anywhere else in the Atlantic. In the latter instance, the species was collected during monitoring of the invasive scleractinian corals Tubastraea spp. on an oil platform originally from Singapore and now located at Todos os Santos Bay, northeastern Brazil. Colonies of T. arcuatum were also found associated with three species of sponges, giving evidence that it is also growing in the natural environment. Todos os Santos Bay is characterized by intense commercial shipping traffic and oil exploration and the finding of T. arcuatum on an oil platform provides strong evidence that it represents a non-indigenous species in the Atlantic. Owing to the possible impact of T. arcuatum in Brazil, further studies and monitoring of its bioinvasion are recommended.(AU)

The non-indigenous bryozoan Triphyllozoon (Cheilostomata: Phidoloporidae) in the Atlantic: morphology and dispersion on the Brazilian coast

Bryozoans constitute an important component of marine-fouling communities of anthropogenic substrata. Many species have been reported as exotic or widespread around the world, typically in ports and harbors of non-polar regions. Here we present the first record of a species of the bryozoan Triphyllozoon in the Atlantic Ocean. Triphyllozoon arcuatum (MacGillivray, 1889), described originally from Australia, is reported herein from natural substrata in Singapore and natural and artificial substrata in Brazil. Although easily recognizable, the species has not been previously reported from anywhere else in the Atlantic. In the latter instance, the species was collected during monitoring of the invasive scleractinian corals Tubastraea spp. on an oil platform originally from Singapore and now located at Todos os Santos Bay, northeastern Brazil. Colonies of T. arcuatum were also found associated with three species of sponges, giving evidence that it is also growing in the natural environment. Todos os Santos Bay is characterized by intense commercial shipping traffic and oil exploration and the finding of T. arcuatum on an oil platform provides strong evidence that it represents a non-indigenous species in the Atlantic. Owing to the possible impact of T. arcuatum in Brazil, further studies and monitoring of its bioinvasion are recommended.