Family SUNDANELLIDAE Jebram, 1973

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Family SUNDANELLIDAE Jebram, 1973

Compiler and date details

July 2001 - Dr Philip Bock

Sundanellidae Jebram, D. 1973. Stolonen-Entwicklung und Systematik bei den Bryozoa Ctenostomata. Zeitschrift für Zoologische Systematik und Evolutionsforschung 11: 1-48.

Introduction

The family Sundanellidae was erected by Jebram (1973) for the single genus Sundanella, which had been introduced by Braem (1939) for Victorella sibogae, first described from the East Indies by Harmer (1915). Sundanella is characterised by its very large zooids and numerous tentacles which exceed 20 per zooid. The cuticle is thick and rugose, and often covered with silt particles. Colonies loosely encrust the substratum and may reach 50-75 mm in diameter or height, as reported by Osburn (1947) who gave the maximum length of zooids as 6.5 mm. S. sibogae buds entirely peristomially, and has been recorded from Brazil by Marcus (1941), from Colombia by Osburn (1947) and from estuarine conditions in North America by Maturo (1957). The method of brooding has been described by Ström (1977) who remarked 'embryos are brooded in an invagination of the body wall'.

Sundanella sibogae has not been reported from Australia, but an unnamed species of Sundanella, with the same budding pattern, but much smaller zooids with 12-14 tentacles, has been recorded and observed alive from Queensland. The colonies inhabited those of the free-living cheilostome Selenaria. Zooids were loosely attached to the frontal and basal sides of colonies, and ancestrulae were seen encrusting the long avicularian setae of the cheilostome. Other zooids with thickened cuticles were found inhabiting the skeletons of zooids in the central, ancestrular region of the Selenaria colonies (Chimonides & Cook, 1981).

Diagnosis

Colony loosely encrusting, zooids very large, with a thick cuticle, and a puckered orifice, budded peristomially. Embryos brooded in an invagination of the body wall.