It was known that on the Portuguese island of Madeira there is a great diversity of bryozoans, a type of mainly marine colonial organisms. Some 140 species had been cataloged, but so far they had not been sufficiently studied. Recently, a team of Spanish and Portuguese scientists has discovered two new species of bryozoans and has detected another specimen in the area that had previously only been found in the waters of Rio de Janeiro (Brazil).
Almost all the knowledge that is had of the animals of this island located in the Atlantic is due to the work of English researchers in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In recent years, the application of new study techniques and electron microscopy have made it possible to analyze the biodiversity of these organisms in more detail . Now researchers can compare recent samples with material from old collections, as scientists from several Spanish and Portuguese centers have done. After analyzing the rock samples colonized by these organisms at a depth of 11 meters, collected in August 2013 in the south of the island, the experts have revealed the discovery of two new species – Favosipora purpurea and Rhynchozoon papuliferum – in the journal Zootaxa .
To reach these conclusions, the team studied material collected by the researchers themselves and samples collected at the end of the 19th century and kept in the Manchester Museum (United Kingdom). Thus they were able to verify that it was a species never described before, which they called Rhynchozoon papuliferum ”. According to biologist Javier Souto, researcher in Zoology and Physical Anthropology at the University of Santiago de Compostela (USC), the name is related to the morphology of the avicularia (zooids specialized in defense) in the form of papillae. It is a detail that the British scientist AW Waters had already detected in 1909, but that did not lead him to describe a new species.
For its part, Favosipora purpurea , which is named for the color of the colonies, represents the first species belonging to this genus described in the Atlantic Ocean, and previously only known from the Pacific and Indian Oceans. It is a more or less circular bryozoan with a diameter of 2 centimeters. Bryozoans are among the most important fouling organisms in marine benthos – the community formed by the beings that inhabit the bottom of aquatic ecosystems. Sometimes they go unnoticed due to their small size. Currently about 6,000 species are known in the world, but it is estimated that there may be around 11,000. These animals form colonies ranging from a few millimeters to large groups of up to one meter. They can be formed by a few zooids or by thousands, with a morphology and function within the group that varies greatly from one species to another.
