Scutoplites reverteri ( Souto, 2019 ), 2025

Reverter-Gil, Oscar, Souto, Javier & Berning, Björn, 2025, Unexpected diversity in North Atlantic deep waters hidden under Scrupocellaria marsupiata (Bryozoa: Cheilostomatida), Zootaxa 5618 (3), pp. 326-350 : 333

Scutoplites reverteri ( Souto, 2019) n. comb.

( Fig. 4 )

Notoplites reverteri Souto in Souto & Albuquerque, 2019: 37, fig. 9.

Material examined. MB37-000062 (holotype): EMEPC/PEPC/LUSO 2016, stn. D04, 33.9197ºN, 37.5088ºW, 1067 m depth ( Fig. 4 ) (see also Souto & Albuquerque 2019) .

Remarks. This species was very recently described for a single colony collected at the Hayes Fracture Zone, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge SW of the Azores.

Despite the scarcity of material and the absence of ovicells, N. reverteri has two characters that define it well. Firstly, the six non-articulated, conical and pointed distal spikes ( Fig. 4 ). And secondly, the shape of the convex flabelliform scutum, with digital branch prolongations with long slitlike indentations between them, such that it is possible to see how the central axis of the scutum is located diagonally over the opesia, while its area of attachment to the gymnocyst is clearly thickened and recurved ( Fig. 4 ). The stout distal spikes resemble those of S. batmani sp. nov., but that species has a completely different scutum (see below and Fig. 10 ). The scutum with the oblique axis and the thickened and recurved attachment resembles that of S. hamartia sp. nov., but in that species the slitlike indentations are shorter, among other characters (see below and Fig. 5 ).

Considering the characters of this species, N. reverteri is here included in Scutoplites n. gen. In this species, however, the frontal avicularium is present only in the median autozooid of the branching point, which constitutes an exclusive character.

Figures

FIGURE 4. Scutoplites reverteri n. comb. (MB37-000062, holotype). A. Close-up of autozooids. B. Autozooids at branch bifurcation.

FIGURE 5. Scutoplites hamartia sp. nov. A, B. Close-up of branch bifurcations; note that the central autozooids of the dichotomies are mirror images in both photos, while the two distal autozooids look exactly the same (MNHN-IB-2008-7441, holotype). C. Dichotomy in basal view (MNHN-IB-2008-7420, paratype). D. Same, close-up of a autozooid with scutum partially broken. E. Detail of two autozooids (MNHN-IB-2008-7441, holotype).

FIGURE 10. Scutoplites batmani sp. nov. A. Close up of autozooids with poorly developed distal spines (MNHN-IB-2022-576, paratype). B. Same, autozooids with fully developed distal spines. C. Banching pattern (MNHN-IB-2022-574, paratype). D. Two autozooids with abnormal development of their scuta (MNHN-IB-2022-576, paratype). E. Basal view of an autozooid with two distal spines and the lateral avicularium (MNHN-IB-2022-575, holotype). F. Same, two autozooids and a broken ovicelled zooid.