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Family MICROPORIDAE Gray, 1848


Compiler and date details

July 2001 - Dr Philip Bock

Introduction

The family Microporidae was introduced by Gray (1848) for European Micropora, type species M. coriacea. It is a large family with over 25 genera currently assigned to it. Colonies are encrusting or erect. The autozooids are outlined by a raised mural rim, and the opesia is small and distal, outlined and defined by an extensive, flat cryptocyst, which is pierced by at least one pair of opesiules. These accommodate the passage of parietal muscles. Zooids communicate through small pore chambers. The ovicell is hyperstomial, often partly immersed, and closed by the operculum; it is usually imperforate, and sometimes umbonate. Interzooidal and vicarious avicularia are often present.

Gray proposed the genus Micropora, with Flustra coriacea as the only species. The material he was using was that identified by Johnston (1847), as Flustra coriacea (Esper, 1791). Harmer (1926), argued that Esper's species was actually not published until 1806-1816, and also was a synonym of Cellepora nobilis Esper, 1796 (now Calpensia) and thus was not a valid species. Harmer proposed that the material that Johnston misidentified be accepted as the type species of Micropora, as Flustra coriacea Johnston (not Esper), nevertheless admitting that this was not in accordance with the Rules of Zoological Nomenclature.

Several genera exhibit all the characteristics of the type genus, but others have different morphologies and almost certainly require family assignments of their own. One of the genera occurring in Australia, Mollia, has little in common with Micropora, or other Microporidae, and is dealt with at the end of this chapter.

Micropora is a genus with a world-wide distribution. The type species, M. coriacea, has been credited with a vast range, but this is being progressively restricted as populations are analysed in detail. The species illustrated by Bock (1982) has avicularia, and cannot be M. coriacea. It resembles that illustrated by Wass & Yoo (1983) as M. cf. normani. All specimens came from southern Australia and are characterised by a pair of distal slit-like opesiular indentations and a pair of small, rounded opesiules. Gordon (1986) regarded M. cf. normani as partly identical with M. elegans Maplestone (1901), which he had illustrated with New Zealand material in 1984. However this species, first described from the Tertiary of Victoria, does not possess the second pair of rounded opesiules. The whole question requires examination of the type material. Bock (1982) also figured M. stenostoma (Busk), which has two pairs of large opesiules, paired oral spines and large ovicells. It was originally described from Tasmania by Busk (1854) and also occurs on the Victorian coast, where it encrusts Sargassum. Several other species of Micropora have been recorded from Australia, including M. variperforata Waters, which was found from the Great Barrier Reef by Ryland & Hayward (1992). Micropora also occurs in the Antarctic and sub-Antarctic. Hayward (1995) described sub-Antarctic M. brevissima and Antarctic M. notialis, both of which occur as broad sheets on hard substrata. Hayward also described species of four other southern genera. These are the rare and inconspicuous Apiophragma hyalina, the extensive unilaminar colonies of Andreella uncifera, the flustrine Flustrapora magellanica, and the erect, branching colonies of Ogivalia elegans, which may reach a height of 50 mm.

Harmer (1926) defined two new species of Calpensia. C. pulchra was recorded from Torres Strait. The second species, C. reversa, from Ceylon, later was made the type species of the genus Dibunostoma (Cheetham 1963). The relationships of Dibunostoma seem to be with the Thalamoporellidae. C. pulchra has neither avicularia nor ovicells and its relationships require further investigation.

The genus Opaeophora is represented by the species O. lepida, first described as Monoporella from Bass Strait by Hincks (1881), and discussed and illustrated by Gordon (1986, as Manzonella) from New Zealand. Additional specimens have been collected from Bass Strait, but these records have not yet been documented.

The genus Mollia is traditionally assigned to the Microporidae, but species have no opesiules; the Australian records of Amphiblestrum patellarium figured by MacGillivray (1886) require investigation. Small colonies, which have been referred to Mollia patellaria, frequently occur encrusting the basal surface of living lunulitiform species, particularly those of Lunularia (Parker & Cook 1994).

 

Diagnosis

Colony encrusting, in sheets, sometimes associated with algae, or erect, well calcified, occasionally flustrine. Autozooids with well developed, flat cryptocyst pierced by one or more pairs of opesiules. Avicularia interzooidal or vicarious. Ovicell hyperstomial, imperforate.

 

General References

Bock, P.E. 1982. Bryozoans (Phylum Bryozoa). pp. 319-394 in Shepherd, S.A. & Thomas, I.M. (eds). Marine Invertebrates of Southern Australia. Handbook of the Flora and Fauna of South Australia Adelaide : Government Printer Part 1 491 pp.

Busk, G. 1854. Catalogue of Marine Polyzoa in the collection of the British Museum, Part 2. London : Trustees of the British Museum 55-120 pp.

Cheetham, A.H. 1963. Late Eocene zoogeography of the eastern Gulf Coast region. Memoirs of the Geological Society of America 91: 1-115

Esper, E.J.C. 1791. Forsetzungen der Pflanzenthiere in Abbildungen nach der Natur mit Farben erleuchtet hebst Beschreibungen., Theil 1 (Date 1791–1797). Nürnberg 230 pp. [Date published 1791–1797]

Gordon, D.P. 1986. The marine fauna of New Zealand: Bryozoa: Gymnolaemata (Ctenostomata and Cheilostomata Anasca) from the western south Island continental shelf and slope. New Zealand Oceanographic Institute Memoir 95: 1-121

Gray, J.E. 1848. List of the Specimens of British Animals in the Collection of the British Museum. Part 1. Centroniae or radiated animals. London : Trustees of the British Museum 173 pp.

Harmer, S.F. 1926. The Polyzoa of the Siboga Expedition. Part 2. Cheilostomata Anasca. Siboga-Expéditie Report 28B: 183-501

Hayward, P.J. 1995. Antarctic cheilostomatous Bryozoa. Oxford, New York, Tokyo : Oxford University Press 355 pp.

Hincks, T. 1881. Contributions towards a general history of the marine Polyzoa. VI. Polyzoa from Bass's Straits. Annals and Magazine of Natural History 5 8: 1-14, 122-128

Johnston, G. 1847. A History of British Zoophytes. London : Van Voorst 499 pp.

Macgillivray, P.H. 1886. Polyzoa. 63-73, pls 116-118 in McCoy, F. (ed.). Prodromus of the Zoology of Victoria Decade 12. Melbourne : George Robertson.

Maplestone, C.M. 1901. Further descriptions of the Tertiary Polyzoa of Victoria. Part 6. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria ns 13: 204-213

Parker, S.A., & Cook, P.L. 1994. Records of the Bryozoan family Selenariidae from Western Australia and South Australia, with the descriptions of new species of Selenaria. Records of the South Australian Museum (Adelaide) 27: 1-11

Ryland, J.S. & Hayward, P.J. 1992. Bryozoa from Heron Island, Great Barrier Reef. Memoirs of the Queensland Museum 32(1): 223-301

Wass, R.E. & Yoo, J.J. 1983. Cheilostome Bryozoa from the Southern Australian Continental Shelf. Australian Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research 34: 303-354

 

History of changes

Note that this list may be incomplete for dates prior to September 2013.
Published As part of group Action Date Action Type Compiler(s)
25-Mar-2014 BRYOZOA Ehrenberg, 1831 25-Mar-2014 MODIFIED Dr Robin Wilson (NMV) Elizabeth Greaves (NMV)
29-Mar-2010 MODIFIED