Aplousina gigantea Canu & Bassler, 1927

Judith L Winston, 2016, Bryozoa of Floridan Oculina reefs, Zootaxa 4071 (1), pp. 1-81 : 17-19

Aplousina gigantea Canu & Bassler, 1927

( Fig. 8 , Table 7 )

Aplousina gigantea Canu & Bassler, 1927: 3 ; 1928a: 20, pl. 2, fig. 6, text-fig. 3; Osburn 1940: 357; Maturo 1957: 38; Shier 1964: 612; Winston 1982: 123, fig. 34.

Material examined. VMNH no. 70606; USNM no. 1283233.

Description. Colonies encrusting on shell or Oculina rubble ( Fig. 8 A–C). Zooids very large, measuring about 0.80 x 1.00 mm, ovoid to hexagonal in shape, almost all of the frontal surface membranous, edged by a narrow low-beaded cryptocystal rim and occasional narrow proximal gymnocyst. Ooecium endozooidal, comprising shallow imperforate cucullate structure ( Fig. 8 B, D) formed by extension of the distal zooid wall under proximal gymnocyst and cryptocyst of daughter zooid.

Remarks. The large size of zooids makes it possible to distinguish this species from others encrusting shell substrata, even without magnification.

Distribution. Beaufort, North Carolina to Florida. Eastern Gulf of Mexico.

Figures

FIGURE 8. Aplousina gigantea Canu & Bassler, 1927: A, zooids at growing edge; B, close-up of ovicelled zooid; C, group of autozooids; D, close-up of ooecium. Scale bars: A, 1 mm; B, C, 0.5 mm; D, 0.1 mm.

Tables

TABLE 7. Measurements in mm of Aplousina gigantea Canu & Bassler, 1927.

	Lz	Wz	Lop	Wop	Lo	Wo	Lov	Wov
N	18	18	18	18	10	10	5	5
Mean	0.811	0.571	0.726	0.489	0.139	0.194	0.119	0.310
SD	0.076	0.077	0.079	0.050	0.026	0.017	0.030	0.035
Min	0.720	0.450	0.612	0.396	0.090	0.180	0.090	0.270
Max	1.008	0.720	0.936	0.576	0.162	0.234	0.162	0.360