Seek and ye shall find: new species and new records of Microporella (Bryozoa, Cheilostomatida) in the Mediterranean

The Mediterranean specimens of the genus Microporella collected from shallow water habitats during several surveys and cruises undertaken mostly off the Italian coast are revised. As a result of the disentanglement of the M. ciliata complex and the examination of new material, three new species, M. bicollarissp. nov., M. ichnusaesp. nov., and M. pachyspinasp. nov., are described from submarine caves or associated with seagrasses and algae. An additional species Microporella sp. A, distinct by its finely reticulate ascopore, is described but left in open nomenclature owing to the limitations of a single infertile fragment. After examination of all available material, based on their identical zooidal morphology, the genus Diporula is regarded as junior synonym of Microporella and the combination Microporella verrucosa is resurrected as first suggested by Neviani in 1896. Fenestrulina joannae is also reassigned to Microporella. The availability of a large number of colonies of the above-mentioned and other species already well known from the area (i.e., M. appendiculata, M. ciliata, and M. modesta), allowed the assessment of their high intraspecific variability as well as the observation, for the first time, of some morphological characters including ancestrulae, early astogeny, and kenozooids. Finally, M. modesta, in spite of M. ciliata as defined by the neotype selected by Kukliński & Taylor in 2008, appears to be the commonest species in the basin.

Two new species of Fauveliopsidae (Annelida, Sedentaria) from submarine caves and deep sea, Japan

Two new species of fauveliopsid annelids, Fauveliopsis antri sp. nov. and Laubieriopsis soyoae sp. nov., are described based on specimens collected from Japanese waters. Fauveliopsis antri sp. nov. inhabits submarine caves and can be discriminated from the other congeners by the following features: i) 32 chaetigers, ii) chaetigers 1–3 with stout hooks, iii) minute body (about 1 mm in length), iv) all parapodia with same number of chaetae (2 notochaetae; 2 neurochaetae), and v) presence of dorsal and ventral papillae. Laubieriopsis soyoae sp. nov. inhabits deep water sediments and can be distinguished from the other congeners by: i) 24 chaetigers, ii) chaetigers 1–3 without annulations, and iii) acicular chaetae with tips entire, without denticles.

Really Onychocellids? Revisions and New Findings Increase the Astonishing Bryozoan Diversity of the Mediterranean Sea

Investigation of bryozoan faunas collected in two submarine caves in Lesvos Island, Aegean Sea revealed a great number of colonies of three species currently assigned to the cheilostome family Onychocellidae: Onychocella marioni Jullien, 1882, O. vibraculifera Neviani, 1895, and Smittipora disjuncta Canu & Bassler, 1930. All species were first described and subsequently recorded on several occasions, from the Mediterranean Sea, particularly from the Aegean Sea. The availability of this material provided the basis for more detailed observations and first scanning electron microscopy (SEM) study of some diagnostic characters, including ovicells and ancestrulae, for the well-known species, as well as a few colonies of a species left in open nomenclature (i.e., Onychocellidae sp. 1) in previous works. In this paper we (i) update the descriptions of these four species; (ii) resurrect the species Floridinella arculifera Canu & Bassler, 1927, which was previously synonymised with Caleschara minuta (Maplestone, 1909), suggesting for it the new combination Tretosina arculifera; (iii) and introduce the new genus Bryobifallax for S. disjuncta.

New cave-dwelling Plakina (Plakinidae, Homoscleromorpha, Porifera) from Martinique Island (French Antilles)

Knowledge of homoscleromorph sponge biodiversity has greatly improved during the last decade thanks to the increasing use of integrative taxonomy and extensive exploration of remote ecosystems. Indeed, recently described species have mostly been small sponges living in dark and near-impenetrable habitats. This work integrates morphological, cytological, ecological and molecular data to describe a new species belonging to the Plakina genus. Plakina doudou sp. nov. was found first during close inspection of photographs taken previously in a submarine cave on Martinique Island, where several new species had already been revealed. The new species lives in syntopy with P. arletensis. It is thinly encrusting, whitish in vivo, and its skeleton harbors a unique composition of diods, triods, monolophose triods and monolophose, dilophose and trilophose calthrops. Sequencing of a portion of the mitochondrial gene cox-1 indicates that the new species belongs to a well-supported clade containing the Mediterranean P. crypta and P. trilopha. However, at the time of publication of this work, we have not yet managed to identify synapomorphies that would support the different clades of Plakina. This genus includes a total of 39 species to date, of which 10 have been recorded in the Western Tropical Atlantic, and 4 in Caribbean submarine caves.

Revision of the genus Setosella (Bryozoa: Cheilostomata) with description of new species from deep-waters and submarine caves of the Mediterranean Sea

The genus Setosella included to date six species. After revision, only four of these species were retained, i.e. S. vulnerata, S. cavernicola, S. folini and S. spiralis. The remaining two species were tentatively placed in Woodipora, W.? antilleana n. comb., and Andreella, A.? fragilis n. comb. On the other hand, scanning electron microscopy examination of Mediterranean material, revealed the presence of three new species previously included in species complexes: S. cyclopensis n. sp. from the open-shelf, S. rossanae n. sp. from submarine caves, and S. alfioi n. sp. from deep-waters. The diagnosis of the genus was amended to include the occurrence of kenozooids in S. cyclopensis n. sp. and S. cavernicola, and of free-living ring-shaped and scorpioid colonies in S. folini and S. alfioi n. sp. All the seven species n 1ow in Setosella have present-day representatives; the geographic distribution of the genus 1sinian of southern Italy and insular Greece, with only three species occasionally and discontinuously reported. All species are able to produce numerous, subsequent intramural buds and morphological differences seem to be consistently associated with exploitation of particular habitats and substrata.