Omanipora pilleri nov. gen. nov. spec., a new lepraliomorph bryozoan (Cheilostomata) from Oman

Abstract

Abstract Bryozoans from around the Arabian Peninsula are only poorly known. Here we describe a new cheilostome taxon, Omanipora pilleri nov. gen. nov. spec., from the western Indian Ocean, south of the town of Duqm (eastern central Oman). Starting from an encrusting base the colonies grow erect, producing either branching and anastomosing bilaminar fronds or robust radial branches by means of frontal budding, while some specimens even exhibit an intracolonial morphological gradient from one branch type to the other. The variability in colony morphology presumably reflects growth under different hydrodynamic conditions. Based on superficially similar orificial, ooecial, avicularian and frontal wall structures the new taxon is tentatively placed within the Celleporidae JOhnstOn. Some of the characters that justify the introduction of a new genus are: communication of the ooecial coelomic cavity with the maternal zooid proceeds via several distal communication pores, which is a feature that has not been observed before; ovicell closure is of the cleithral type; and the orifices are dimorphic in fertile (egg-producing) and non-fertile zooids. Keywords: Bryozoa, Indian Ocean, new species, new genus, ovicells. Zusammenfassung Die Bryozoen der Arabischen Halbinsel sind immer noch sehr unzureichend bekannt. In der vorliegenden Arbeit wird ein neues Taxon cheilostomer Bryozoen aus dem westlichen Indischen Ozean beschrieben, das an der Ostküste des zentralen Oman (südlich des Ortes Duqm) vorkommt