Intertidal bryozoans from coral reef-flat rubble Sa‘aga, Western Samoa

A study of the major cryptofaunal species from reef-flat rubble (slabs and small boulders) at Sa'aga, Upolu Island, has yielded 10 species of Bryozoa (2 new), with the following colonial morphologies: two-dimensionally encrusting - Puellina sp.; Calyptotheca mortoni n. sp., fixed-erect - Reteporellina samoensis n. sp., Triphyllozoon sp.; and rooted-articulated - Crisia elongata, Nellia tenuis, Chlidonia pyriformis; Savignyella lafontii; Vasignyella otophora; Margaretta gracilior. Systematic rearrangements include placing Nellia in the Quadricellariidae, and the Savignyellidae in the superfamily Cateoicelloide Savignyella otophora is made the type species of a new genus Vasignyella. Bryozoa dominate numerically over other suspension feeders in this habitat. Much of the central portions of the rubble undersides are occupied by bryozoans, surrounded by sponges and ascidians, with the periphery dominated by crustose-coralline algae. Rooted, flexible Bryozoa can be so numerous as to form a turf. The present collection is very small (a deliberate collection of bryozoans not having been made for the whole shore) but otherwise representative of the genera and morphotypes found elsewhere in such reefal environments.

Citation: Gordon D (2024). Intertidal bryozoans from coral reef-flat rubble Sa‘aga, Western Samoa. Version 1.0. The National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA). Occurrence dataset. https://nzobisipt.niwa.co.nz/resource?r=upolo_bryozoa&v=1.0

Published: June 19, 2024 at 21:56

License: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY 4.0) License

URL: https://nzobisipt.niwa.co.nz/resource?r=upolo_bryozoa