A comparative analysis of the nervous system of cheilostome bryozoans

Morphology of ctenostome bryozoans: 5. Sundanella, with description of a new species from the Western Atlantic and the Multiporata concept

Ctenostome bryozoans are a small group of gymnolaemates that comprise only a few hundred described species. Soft‐tissue morphology remains the most important source for analysing morphological characters and inferring relationships within this clade. The current study focuses on the genus Sundanella, for which morphological data is scarce to almost absent. We studied two species of the genus, including one new to science, using histology and three‐dimensional reconstruction techniques and confocal laser scanning microscopy. Sundanella generally has a thick, sometimes arborescent cuticle and multiporous interzooidal pore plates. The lophophore is bilateral with an oral rejection tract and generally has 30 or 31 tentacles in both species. The digestive tract shows a large cardia in S. floridensis sp. nov. and an extremely elongated intestine in Sundanella sibogae. Both terminate via a vestibular anus. Only parietodiaphragmatic muscles are present and four to six duplicature bands. Both species show a large broad frontal duplicature band further splitting into four individual bands. The collar is vestibular. Sundanella sibogae shows highly vacuolated cells at the diaphragm, whereas S. floridensis sp. nov. has unique glandular pouches at the diaphragmal area of the tentacle sheath. Such apertural glands have never been encountered in other ctenostomes. Both species of Sundanella are brooders that brood embryos either in the vestibular or cystid wall. Taken together, the current analysis shows numerous characteristics that refute an assignment of Sundanella to victorellid ctenostomes, which only show superficial resemblance, but differ substantially in most of their soft‐body morphological traits. Instead, a close relationship with other multiporate ctenostomes is evident and the families Pherusellidae, Flustrellidrae and Sundanellidae should be summarized as clade ‘Multiporata’ in the future.

Small, but smart: Fine structure of an avicularium in Dendrobeania fruticosa (Bryozoa: Cheilostomata)

Bryozoans are small benthic suspension-feeding colonial animals. Among this phylum, there are representatives showing a lesser or greater degree of polymorphism, and the most common type of polymorphic zooids is the avicularium. Here we present a detailed description of the bird's-head shaped avicularium in Dendrobeania fruticosa. The body cavity of the avicularium demonstrates an acoelomate condition: along the cystid walls, there is neither the layer of extracellular matrix toward the epidermis, nor coelomic lining. However, a layer of extracellular matrix and epithelialized cells lie under the epidermis of the tentacle sheath. Probably, such construction helps the tentacle sheath to acquire some rigidity-it is the only region of the body wall without an ectocyst. We did not find typical funicular strands in the avicularium, but there is a delicate mesh composed of stellate cells with thin and long projections, which sometimes isolate the spaces filled with a heterogeneous matrix. The proximal ends of the adductors, abductors, and polypide retractors are attached to the body wall via typical epidermal tendon cells, which possess numerous bundles of tonofilaments. The distal ends of the abductors and adductors attach to the frontal membrane or upper vestibular membrane, respectively. The inner organic layer of the ectocyst in these regions forms large protrusions, from which numerous thin outgrowths branch off. We suggest them to be a functional analogue of apodemes and apodemal filaments in arthropods. "Apodemal" tendon cells have long and thin projections that line the outgrowths of the ectocyst and surround the distal ends of the muscle cells. At these sites, "apodemal" tendon cells possess numerous tonofilaments. The vestigial polypide includes the tentacle sheath, rudimentary lophophore, cerebral ganglion, and polypide retractors. The sensory part of 5HT-positive cells of the frontal membrane is dendrite-shaped and embedded in the inner organic layer of the ectocyst.