Journal
ZOOTAXA
Volume 4950, Issue 1, Pages 1-45Publisher
MAGNOLIA PRESS
DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4950.1.1
Keywords
equatorial Atlantic; Northern Brazil; biodiversity; biogeography
Categories
Funding
- Brazil's National Petroleum Agency (ANP/PetroRio)
- Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cientifico e Tecnologico (CNPq)
- Ministry of Education (CAPES)
- International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP)
- Fundacao Carlos Chagas Filho de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (FAPERJ)
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This study investigated the bryozoan diversity in the reef system off the Amazon River mouth, identifying 65 taxa including 13 new species. The results highlight the biodiversity significance of the Amazon reefs and emphasize the need for more comprehensive sampling to clarify the role of bryozoans in modern turbid-zone reefs and rhodolith beds.
The reef system off the Amazon River mouth extends from Amapa state to Maranhao state along the Brazilian Equatorial Margin, encompassing more than 10,000 km(2) of rhodolith beds and high-relief hard structures on the outer shelf and upper slope. This unique hard bottom mosaic is remarkable for being influenced by the turbid and hypo saline plume from the world's largest river, and also for representing a connectivity corridor between the Caribbean and Brazil. Bryozoans were recently recognized as major reef builders in the Southwestern Atlantic, but their diversity off the Amazon River mouth remained unknown. Here, we report on recent collections obtained from 23 to 120 m depth in Northern Brazil. Sixty-five bryozoan taxa were characterized using scanning electron microscopy, including 57, five and three taxa of Cheilostomatida, Cyclostomatida and Ctenostomatida, respectively. Cribrilaria smitti and three genera (Cranosina, Glabrilaria and Thornelya) are new records for Brazil, and 13 new species are herein described: Antropora cruzeiro n. sp., Cranosina gilbertoi n. sp., Cribrilaria lateralis n. sp., Crisia brasiliensis n. sp., Glabrilaria antoniettae n. sp., Micropora amapaensis n. sp., Parasmittina amazonensis n. sp., Plesiocleidochasma arcuatum n. sp., Poricella bifurcata n. sp., Pourtalesella duoavicularia n. sp., Stephanollona domuspusilla n. sp., Therenia dianae n. sp., and Thornelya atlanticoensis n. sp. Our results highlight the biodiversity significance of the Amazon reefs and the need for more comprehensive sampling to clarify the role of bryozoans in modern turbid-zone reefs and rhodolith beds.
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