Cryptosula pallasiana ( Moll, 1803 ) Unassigned

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 : 31-33

Cryptosula pallasiana ( Moll, 1803) Unassigned

( Fig. 15 ; Table 15)

Eschara pallasiana Moll, 1803: 64 , pl. 3, fig. 13.

Cryptosula pallasiana : Ryland 1965: 72, fig. 34b; Lichtschein de Bastida & Bastida 1980: 384, figs 18–23; Gordon & Mawatari 1992: 29, pl. 1A–C, pl. 3C, pl. 8C; Hayward & Ryland 1999: 194, figs 74C, 76; López-Gappa & Liuzzi 2018: 1164; Castro et al. 2020: 70; López-Gappa et al. 2022: 387 , fig. 29.

Figured material. Garachico (20/06/23) (2C on buoy).

Other material examined. Big Canary Sports Dock (27/06/23) (2C on buoy), Corralejo (28/06/23) (2C on buoy) ( MNCN 25.03/4463).

Description. Colony encrusting, whitish pink. Autozooids oval or hexagonal in shape, separated by marked grooves ( Fig. 15A, B ). Primary orifice bell-shaped, occupying one-third to half of the zooidal frontal surface, longer than wide, with concave proximal margin and downcurved condyles surrounded by a peristome ( Fig. 15C ). Frontal shield filled with evenly distributed pores, with the borders becoming wider and more rugose in later ontogeny. Ovicell and avicularia not observed.

Remarks. Cryptosula pallasiana is considered a species complex including different regional endemic species ( Mead et al. 2011), hindering the determination of its status.Indeed, some morphological characters, such as the width of the peristome and the presence and characters of the avicularia, are very variable among specimens associated with this species. Our colonies showed small peristomes without suboral avicularia and ovicells. Arístegui (1984b) recorded a similar species in the Canary Islands, Saevitella peristomata ( Waters, 1899) as Cosciniopsis peristomata ( Waters, 1899) but did not observe C. pallasiana . Both species show polygonal and well-defined zooids resembling a bell and well-developed peristome and evenly distributed pores in the frontal wall ( Berning 2012). However, these species are easily distinguished. Indeed, S. peristomata has a flared peristome that is much more developed in comparison to that of C. pallasiana and shows prominent ovicells, observed in material from Arístegui (1984b).

Distribution and status. Cryptosula pallasiana was first described from European waters. It is a very widespread species, with many spatially distant records from the last decades. This wide distribution can be indicative of a potential species complex ( Mead et al. 2011). Indeed, it seems to occur in the Indo-Pacific ( Gordon & Mawatari 1992; Tian et al. 2014), the Mediterranean Sea ( Subías-Baratau et al. 2022; Ramalho & Caballero 2022), and both sides of the Atlantic Ocean ( Ramalho 2006; Rico & López-Gappa 2006; Marchini et al. 2007; Porter et al. 2015; Souto & Reverter-Gil 2024). It has been observed within Macaronesia in the Azores, Cape Verde and the Canary Islands, where it is considered cryptogenic ( Castro et al. 2023).

Figures

FIGURE 15. Cryptosula pallasiana (Moll, 1803).A. View of colony through stereomicroscope and B. through SEM. C. Primary orifice. Scale bars: A, B = 200 µm; C = 100 µm.