Intertidal bryozoans from coral reef-flat rubble Sa‘aga, Western Samoa

Abstract

Abstract A study of the major cryptofaunal species from reef-flat rubble (slabs and small boulders) at Sa’aga, Upolu Island, has yielded 10 species of Bryozoa (2 new), with the following colonial morphologies: “two-dimensionally” encrusting— Puellina sp.; Calyptotheca mortoni n. sp., fixed-erect—Reteporellina samoensis n. sp., Triphyllozoon sp.; and rooted-articulated—Crisia elongata, Nellia tenuis, Chlidonia pyriformis; Savignyella lafontii; Vasignyella otophora; Margaretta gracilior. Systematic rearrangements include placing Nellia in the Quadricellariidae, and the Savignyellidae in the superfamily Catenicelloide Savignyella otophora is made the type species of anew genus Vasignyella. Bryozoa dominate numerically over other suspension feeders in this habitat. Much of the central portions of the rubble undersides are occupied by bryozoans, surrounded by sponges and ascidians, with the periphery dominated by crustose-coralline algae. Rooted, flexible Bryozoa can be so numerous as to form a turf. This is t...