Bryopesanser Tilbrook, 2006

Tilbrook, Kevin J., 2012, Review of the bryozoan genus Bryopesanser Tilbrook, 2006 (Escharinidae: Cheilostomata) with the description of 11 new species, Zootaxa 3165, pp. 39-63 : 40

Genus Bryopesanser Tilbrook, 2006

Type species. Hippothoa pes anseris Smitt, 1873 .

Diagnosis. Colony encrusting. Frontal shield evenly perforated, areolar septular pores present. Primary orifice with horizontal proximal rim and condyles and notch-like sinus. Oral spines present. Peristome developed proximally. Avicularia adventitous, adjacent to the primary orifice on each side, mandibles fan-shaped. Ovicell hyperstomial, imperforate, opening above level of primary orifice. Basal pore chambers present. Ancestrula tatiform with welldeveloped cryptocyst.

Remarks. Specimens of Bryopesanser species are often inconspicuous. Mature colonies and zooids of most species are relatively small. As indicated in the generic diagnosis, all Bryopesanser species share a number of gross morphological characters that are the most likely cause of the constant misidentification of B. pesanseris sensu stricto over the years. It is only really through the use of scanning electron microscopy that the more subtle differences are seen in these gross morphological characters, that is: the primary orifice (shape of articular condyles, proximal orificial rim, sinus and peristome), avicularia (size and position) and frontal pore morphology. The generic diagnosis has not been amended as Dick et al. (2006) recommended, pending photographic confirmation of setiform avicularian mandibles as a character.

Harmer (1957) noted slight differences in the specimens he examined, all of which had been assigned to the ‘well-known’ species Bryopesanser pesanseris , believed to be circumglobal in distribution in warm-temperate and tropical shallow waters until Tilbrook (2006) demonstrated the existence of a complex of similar forms. The complex of morphologically distinct species described below mirrors that found in many other bryozoan species and genera, e.g. Antropora granulifera ( Hincks, 1880) ( Tilbrook, 1998) , Hippopodina feegeensis ( Busk, 1884) ( Tilbrook, 1999, 2006), Stylopoma Levinsen, 1909 (Tilbrook, 2001) , Cupuladria Canu & Bassler, 1919 (Herrera- Cubilla et al. 2006), Puellina Jullien, 1886 ( Harmelin, 2006) , Monoporella Hincks, 1881 ( Dick, 2008) , and Microporella Hincks, 1877 ( Harmelin et al., 2011) .