Bugulina stolonifera ( Ryland, 1960 ) Introduced

Ruiz-Velasco, Sofía, Ros, Macarena, Guerra-García, José M. & López-Fé, Carlos M., 2025, Fouling bryozoans in recreational marinas of the Canary Islands (North-Eastern Atlantic) with new records of non-indigenous and cryptogenic species, Zootaxa 5656 (1), pp. 1-63 : 19-20

Bugulina stolonifera ( Ryland, 1960) Introduced

( Fig. 7 ; Table 7)

Bugula stolonifera Ryland, 1960: 78 ; Prenant & Bobin 1966: 541, figs 158 XII, 159 II, 187; Ryland & Hayward 1977: 170, fig. 82; Hayward & Ryland 1998: 228, fig. 72; Ramalho et al. 2005: 235, fig. 3.

Bugulina stolonifera : Fehlauer-Ale et al. 2015: 6; Ramalhosa et al. 2017: 8, fig. 4.

Figured material. Corralejo (28/06/23) (2C on buoy) ( MNCN 25.03/4455).

Other material examined. Las Galletas (19/06/23) (1C on buoy), Taliarte (26/06/23) (2C on buoy), Pasito Blanco (26/06/23) (1C on buoy).

Description. Colonies whitish, erect and branching, without a spiral pattern ( Fig. 7A ). Branches biserial, without increasing the number of zooids in bifurcations ( Fig. 7B ). Autozooids elongated and slender, being slightly longer in the bifurcations. Frontal membrane with the proximal margin U-shaped, occupying around three-quarters of the frontal area. Outer distal margin of the zooids with two spines, one on the inner distal margin ( Fig. 7C ). Avicularia pedunculate and monomorphic, attached below the outer spines, with a downcurved rostrum ( Fig. 7D ). Avicularia length nearly equal to autozooid width ( Table 7). Ooecia globular, wider than long.

Remarks. Until B. stolonifera was described, this species had often been misidentified as similar ones, such as B. avicularia , which also shows biserial branches and a similar spine pattern (2:1). These two species differ in: (1) ancestrula spine pattern (with a single spine on each distal angle in B. avicularia and with a basal spine and usually three spines on each distal angle in B. stolonifera ) ( Ryland 1960; Hayward & Ryland 1998), (2) colony form (spiralling in B. avicularia ) and (3) size of the avicularia (larger than the width of the zooid in B. avicularia and smaller or equal to the width in B. stolonifera , never reaching 0.20 mm according to Arístegui (1984b)).

Distribution and status. Bugulina stolonifera is native to the North-Western Atlantic ( McCann et al. 2019) and has been widely introduced globally. Its introduced area includes South America, Pacific American coasts, the Galapagos, Australia, New Zealand, China, Japan, India, Mediterranean Sea, Atlantic coasts of Europe (see Ramalho et al. 2005; Ryland et al. 2011; McCann et al. 2019), and Macaronesia. It has been introduced to Azores ( Morton et al. 1998; Micael et al. 2019), Madeira ( Ramalhosa et al. 2017), and the Canary Islands ( Arístegui 1984b; Arístegui 1987 (as Bugula stolonifera ); Moro et al. 2018). While Png-Gonzalez et al. (2023) considered this species as “Debatable” (alluding to an uncertain taxonomic status due to contrasting opinions from taxonomic experts), other authors have considered this species as NIS in Macaronesia ( Micael et al. 2019; NEMESIS 2024). Considering the likelihood of the native area of this species, we also consider it introduced in the Canary Islands.

Genus Virididentula Fehlauer-Ale, Winston, Tilbrook, Nascimento & Vieira, 2015

Figures

FIGURE 7. Bugulina stolonifera (Ryland, 1960) (MNCN25.03/4455). A. View of the colony through stereomicroscope and B. through SEM. C. Autozooids. D. Avicularia. Scale bars: A = 300 µm; B, C = 200 µm; D = 100 µm.