Licornia jolloisii ( Audouin, 1826 )

Harmelin, Jean-Georges, 2014, Alien bryozoans in the eastern Mediterranean Sea — new records from the coast of Lebanon, Zootaxa 3893 (3), pp. 301-338 : 313

Licornia jolloisii ( Audouin, 1826)

( Fig. 4 A–C)

Acamarchis jolloisii Audouin, 1826: 240 [ Savigny 1817: 11, fig. 2.].

Scrupocellaria jolloisiii: Waters 1909: 132 , pl. 10, figs 5–11; Hastings 1927: 334; Balavoine 1959: 267, pl. 3, figs 1–2. Scrupocellaria mansueta Waters, 1909: 134 , pl. 10, fig. 15.

Scrupocellaria (Retiscrupocellaria) jolloisi: d’Hondt 1988: 198 , fig. 4. Retiscrupocellaria jolloisii: d’Hondt 2006: 66 .

Licornia jolloisii: Vieira et al. 2013: 1912 , figs 1C,D, 2A–F, 7A,B.

Material examined. Specimens from Lebanon: 1) Stn 4A, 1 colony; 2) Stn 4B, 3 colonies; 3) Stn 6B, 1 colony; 4) Stn 8B, 1 colony; 5) Stn 9A, c. 10 ovicellate colonies, epiphytic on Cymodocea nodosa ; 6) Stn 12A, 1 colony; 7) Stn 13B, c. 6 colonies. Other material examined: MNHN, specimens recorded by Balavoine (1959), Dollfus coll., Al Sayad survey, Gulf of Suez: 1) No. 7839, Stn V, 28 November 1928, 35 m, several specimens; 2) No. 7839, Stn XI, 8 December 1928, 25– 31 m; 3) No. 7852, Stn XVI, 12 December 1928, 19– 33 m.

Description. Colony unilamellar, erect, attached by rhizoids, bushy with biserial ramifications connected by transverse tubes (rhizoids). Zooids alternating, with large membranous frontal area (opesia), broadest in distal half. Branches not fully planar but adjacent series forming a narrow angle, at least at level of ooecium. Some zooids with a robust spiniform scutum, 180–250 µm long, arched over opesia. A pair of small spines occasionally present distally, the outer one originating just above base of lateral avicularium that is placed distally on outer side of each zooid, forming a triangular prominent chamber with hooked rostrum and triangular mandible. A similar-shaped avicularium occurring infrequently in midline between laterally adjacent zooids, with rostrum directed lateroproximally on a moderately raised cystid. Vibracular chamber originating on abfrontal surface with a curved furrow directed laterodistally and a large pore corresponding to rhizoid insertion rhizoid. Distal part of vibracular chamber visible frontally as a vertical column above lateral avicularium. Vibracular setae articulated frontally, very long (to> 900 µm), stretched across frontal side of branches. Bifurcation with single vibracular chamber with rhizoidal foramen. Ooecium broader than long, generally asymmetrically shaped (inner side proximally stretched against midline), widely open with clearly concave proximal edge, ectooecium with 12–18 large pseudopores.

Remarks. The genus Licornia van Beneden, 1850, resurrected by Vieira et al. (2013) for Scrupocellaria jolloisii and other related species, is the senior synonym of Retiscrupocellaria , a subgenus of Scrupocellaria erected by d’Hondt (1988) for S. jolloisii because its characters are intermediate between Scrupocellaria van Beneden, 1845 and Canda Lamouroux, 1816 , a feature that was already commented on by Harmer (1926, p. 377) and Audouin (1826) himself.

This species was recorded in the Red Sea by Waters (1909) as both S. jolloisii and S. mansueta Waters, 1909 , synonymized by Harmer (1926) and Hastings (1927). The results of the Al Sayad survey ( Balavoine, 1959) indicate that this species was frequent in the Gulf of Suez, which is the probable donor area of propagules that founded the population established along the Levant coast including Israel (d'Hondt 1988; N. Sokolover pers. comm. 12 December 2013) and Lebanon (present data). This species was recently introduced on West Atlantic coasts where it was recorded from Florida and Brazil (Vieira et al. 2013).

Figures

FIGURE 4. Licornia jolloisii (Audouin, 1826), Lebanon, Stn 9 A: A, part of colony with two transverse rhizoids; B, autozooids with ooecia; C, dorsal view of bifurcation showing insertion of vibracular chambers. Scale bars: A, 400 m; B, 100 µm; C, 200 µm.