Parasmittina galerita Ryland & Hayward, 1992

Martino, Emanuela Di & Taylor, Paul D., 2018, Early Pleistocene and Holocene bryozoans from Indonesia, Zootaxa 4419 (1), pp. 1-70 : 28-29

Parasmittina galerita Ryland & Hayward, 1992

( Figs 77–80 ; Table 17)

Smittina parsevalii: Harmer, 1957: 941 , pl. 65, fig. 5.

Parasmittina galerita Ryland & Hayward, 1992: 270 , fig. 21d–f; Tilbrook et al., 2001: 75, fig. 14A, B; Tilbrook, 2006: 152, pl. 29B, fig. 30D, E.

Parasmittina parsevalioidea: Liu et al., 2001: 625 , pl. 56, figs 1–4.

Figured material. RGM.1350563, Holocene, UPGG 041, off South Sulawesi.

Description. Colony encrusting, multiserial, multilaminar. Autozooids chaotically arranged, irregularly polygonal, distinct by narrow sutures, longer than wide (mean L/W = 1.47). Frontal shield flat to slightly convex, coarsely nodular, outlined by a single row of large marginal areolar pores, circular to teardrop-shaped, 20–50 µm long, with ridges in-between. Primary orifice broader than long, about 65 µm long by 90 µm wide, with a faint denticulation on the distal edge; lyrula occupying about one-third of the proximal orificial edge, anvil-shaped; condyles conspicuous, with a pleated structure, rounded, downwardly directed. One or two distal oral spine bases visible in some zooids. Peristome complete, most developed proximolaterally. Adventitious avicularia polymorphic; often one triangular avicularium (about 120 µm long by 65 µm wide) with complete crossbar occurs lateral to the orifice, distomedially directed, indenting the edge of the peristome; single or paired spatulate avicularia (about 70–100 µm long by 30–50 µm wide) may occur laterally on the frontal shield at the level of the proximal orificial edge, proximally directed, crossbar not observed; small oval avicularia (about 50 µm long by 35 µm wide) with complete crossbar randomly occur along the margins of autozooids. Vicarious avicularium spatulate, about 300 µm long by 150 µm wide. Ooecium globular, bordered by a peripheral rim of coarsely nodular calcification, with 20–24 circular, radially aligned pseudopores, about 12 µm in diameter.

Remarks. A dozen fragments of Parasmittina galerita were found in our samples. This species is characterized by its conspicuously pleated condyles and the array of avicularia. Originally described from Heron Island in the Great Barrier Reef ( Ryland & Hayward 1992), P. galerita was subsequently recorded in Vanuatu ( Tilbrook et al. 2001), the South China Sea ( Liu et al. 2001), and the Solomon Islands ( Tilbrook 2006). One of the specimens found at 59 m depth in the Makassar Strait, assigned by Harmer (1957) to Parasmittina parsevalii ( Audouin, 1826) , was reassigned to P. galerita by Ryland & Hayward (1992).

N, Number of colonies and number of zooids measured; SD, standard deviation.

Figures

FIGURES 77–80. Parasmittina galerita Ryland & Hayward, 1992, RGM.1350563, Holocene, UPGG041, off South Sulawesi. 77. General view of the colony fragment. The arrow indicates a spatulate vicarious avicularium. 78. Group of zooids with polymorphic avicularia. 79. Group of zooids with ooecia. 80. Close-up of an orifice showing the anvil-shaped lyrula, the pleated condyles, and a single oral spine base. Scale bars: Fig. 77 = 200 µm; Figs 78, 79 = 100 µm; Fig. 80 = 20 µm.