The amathiiform Ctenostomata (phylum Bryozoa) of New Zealand —including four new species, two of them of probable alien origin

Abstract

The status of the vesiculariid ctenostome genus Amathia in New Zealand has been evaluated on the basis of all known material, including historic specimens in museums and those newly collected during formal surveillance of ports, harbours and vessels for possible alien species. Eight species are recognised, four of them new to science. Amathia gracei n. sp. and Amathia zealandica n. sp. are the only apparently endemic species. Amathia chimonidesi n. sp. appears to be a previously unrecognised alien species and is known only from shipping harbours and/or yacht marinas and some nearby beaches. Amathia similis n. sp. has been known in the Auckland area since the 1960s but was confused with A. distans Busk. Amathia bicornis (Tenison-Woods), A. biseriata Krauss, A. lamourouxi Chimonides and A. wilsoni Kirkpatrick are Australasian species that occur naturally on both sides of the Tasman Sea. Of this latter group, A. bicornis was discovered only at a single locality on the southwest coast of North Island in 1983 on a fucoid seaweed and it may be relatively recently self-introduced. A specimen of A. lendigera (Linnaeus) in the Museum of New Zealand, purportedly from Napier, is considered to be based on a misunderstanding or a labelling error and does not represent a failed alien introduction. The Amathia-like vesiculariid Bowerbankia citrina (Hincks) sensu lato is newly recorded for New Zealand. Keys are provided to the amathiiform (i.e. Amathia and Amathia-like) Ctenostomata of New Zealand and to the worldwide species of Amathia and Bowerbankia with zooid clusters spiralled on stoloniform axes.

A phylogeny ofVesiculariidae (Bryozoa,Ctenostomata) supports synonymization of three genera and reveals possible cryptic diversity

“…Bowerbankia citrina (Hincks, ) has mostly been recorded from both sides of the English Channel (Hayward ; De Blauwe ) and the West Iberian Peninsula (Souto et al . ), but has recently also been reported from New Zealand (Gordon & Spencer Jones ). And finally, Zoobotryon verticillatum (Delle Chiaje, ) (= Z .…”

“…Furthermore, morphological examination of adult colonies (Souto et al . ; Gordon & Spencer Jones ) and larvae (Zimmer & Woollacott ; Santagata ,b) has revealed a number of shared features, demonstrating their close relationship.…”

“…However, some Amathia species, for example Amathia tricornis Busk MS in Chimonides, , share this characteristic (Fig. B), while in one species, that is Amathia wilsoni Kirkpatrick, , in addition to trifurcating branches, tetrachotomies have also been described (see Gordon & Spencer Jones ). Osburn () first suggested the fusion of Bowerbankia and Zoobotryon and highlighted the only distinguishing characters to be the erect colonies and the softness and wider stolon in Zoobotryon .…”

Investigação do padrão de distribuição do briozoário cosmopolita Zoobotryon verticillatum (Ctenostomata, Vesiculariidae), através de dados moleculares

“…Farre, 1837 e Amathia Lamouroux, 1812 são morfologicamente muito semelhantes entre si, apresentando uma série de características em comum, tanto na colônia adulta, quanto na fase larval (ZIMMER & WOOLLACOTT, 1993; SANTAGATA, 2008a, b;SOUTO et al, 2011;GORDON & SPENCER-JONES, 2013 …”

“…Farre, 1837 e Amathia Lamouroux, 1812 são morfologicamente muito semelhantes entre si, apresentando uma série de características em comum, tanto na colônia adulta, quanto na fase larval (ZIMMER & WOOLLACOTT, 1993;SANTAGATA, 2008a, b;SOUTO et al, 2011;GORDON & SPENCER-JONES, 2013 Bahia (KELMO et al, 2004), Rio de Janeiro (JUNQUEIRA et al, 2004;VIEIRA et al, 2008;RAMALHO et al, 2011;PEREIRA et al, 2012) e São Paulo (MIGOTTO & WINSTON, 2005;VIEIRA et al, 2008VIEIRA et al, , 2014FEHLAUER-ALE et al, 2011 O DNA mitocondrial (mtDNA) tem sido fundamental para o desenvolvimento da filogeografia em nível populacional (e.g. BALLARD & WHITLOCK, 2004;HARTL & CLARK, 2010), pois i) o seu modo de herança majoritariamente unicamente materno (não possibilitando recombinações); ii) as geralmente altas taxas de evolução, se comparadas aos genes nucleares; e iii) os extensos polimorfismos intraespecíficos nos permitem considerá-lo um marcador ideal para inferências sobre estrutura populacional e história populacional recente (AVISE et al, 1987;BALLARD & WHITLOCK, 2004;HARTL & CLARK, 2010).…”