Fredericella sultana ( Blumenbach, 1779 )

Wood, Timothy S., 2020, Review of freshwater Bryozoa (Phylactolaemata) of Central Africa with descriptions of two new species, Zootaxa 4820 (3), pp. 581-600 : 583

Fredericella sultana ( Blumenbach, 1779)

Tubularia sultana Blumenbach, 1779

Fredericella sultana Gervais, 1838: p. 129 ; Allman, 1856: p. 110–112, pl. 12; Kraepelin, 1887: p. 103–104, pls 5 (121), 7 (138); Geimer & Massard, 1986: p. 29–38, pl. 3; (not Rogick, 1937: p. 101 nor Bushnell, 1965: p. 241–242, fig. 4).

Material examined. Specimen MRAC No. 49 collected February 1937 in northern Angola at Noqui, 3.7 km SE Matadi, by Edmund Darteville ; MRAC No. 198 collected 1888 in Egypt at Masyasa, Alexandria by Franz Ludwig Stuhlmann .

Description. Material labeled No. 198 represents the first freshwater bryozoan to be collected in Africa. Unfortunately, the colony bears no piptoblasts, so the species identity cannot be confirmed. In No. 49 the few piptoblasts are young and fragile with much adhering material. Careful cleaning reveals no uniform texture, so Fredericella indica can be ruled out. The specimen could be F. sultana (as labeled) or either F. toriumii Hirose & Mawatari, 2011 or F. browni . The oblong shape would be consistent with any of these. Unfortunately, the species identification may never be determined with certainty.