Nellia oculata Busk, 1852

Taylor, Paul D. & Tan, Shau-Hwai Aileen, 2015, Cheilostome Bryozoa from Penang and Langkawi, Malaysia, European Journal of Taxonomy 149, pp. 1-34 : 14-15

Nellia oculata Busk, 1852

Fig. 7 B–E

Nellia oculata Busk, 1852: 18 , pl 64, fig. 6, pl 65 bis, fig. 5.

Nellia oculata – Winston et al. 2014: 161, fig. 13.

Material

MALAYSIA: MSL BRY013, Balik Pulau, Penang, small colony washed ashore on a sandy beach.

Description

Colony erect, articulated, forming a tiny dichotomously branched bush composed of quadriserial internodes with 4–7 autozooids each linked by chitinous joints, basally rooted by kenozooids.Autozooids slender, about 0.38–0.50 mm long by 0.13–0.15 mm wide; opesia occupying about three-quarters of surface, elongate elliptical in shape; gymnocyst widest proximally, tapering distally along sides of zooid, spines lacking; cryptocyst forming a slightly sunken, inwardly sloping crescent at proximal end of opesia, smooth-surfaced; various pores and depressions visible through opesia in basal walls of zooids, plus a low spinose, curved ridge on distal interior wall of zooid ( Fig. 7C ); ovicell not observed in studied material but described elsewhere as endozooidal ( Winston et al. 2014). Avicularia tiny ( Fig. 7E ), located as pairs on left and right proximolateral gymnocyst of autozooids, inclined to plane of cryptocyst and directed proximally; rostrum rounded; cross-bar calcified, straight; opesia smaller than rostrum, with a slightly depressed cryptocyst; countersunk pore positioned on autozooidal gymnocyst beneath avicularium.

Remarks

This species has often been regarded as a junior synonym of Nellia tenella ( Lamarck, 1816) , but following Winston et al. (2014) we here retain Busk’s species name oculata pending a revision of Lamouroux’s material to test the synonymy. Ostensibly, Nellia oculata has a wide tropical and subtropical distribution, as well as a long fossil record, but there is need for a taxonomic re-evaluation using molecular data.

Figures

Fig. 7. — A. Antropora minor (Hincks, 1880). Part of a colony encrusting a large gastropod shell; Kampung Kuala Temoyong, Langkawi, MSL BRY012a. — B–E. Nellia oculata Busk, 1852. Balik Pulau, Penang, MSL BRY013. Internodes from a single colony. B, D. Complete internodes. C.Autozooid. E. Detail of tiny avicularium with proximal pore. Scale bars: A–B, D = 500 μm; C = 100 μm; E = 20 μm.