Scutoplites marsupiatus Reverter-Gil & Souto & Berning 2025, n. comb.
Creators: name: Reverter-Gil, Oscar
name: Souto, Javier
name: Berning, Björn
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2025
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Bryozoa
Gymnolaemata
Cheilostomatida
Candidae
Scutoplites
Scutoplites marsupiatus

description: Scutoplites marsupiatus (Jullien, 1882) n. comb.
(Fig. 1)
Scrupocellaria marsupiata Jullien, 1882: 10, pl. 13, figs 17–20; 1883: 506, pl. 13, figs 17–20; Calvet 1907: 377.
Not Notoplites marsupiatus: Harmer 1923: 351. [= S. clausus n. comb., see below].
Not Notoplites marsupiatus: Calvet 1931: 69. [= S. saojorgensis n. comb., see Berning 2013 and below].
Not Scrupocellaria marsupiata: d’Hondt 1973: 1212. [= S. clausus n. comb., see below].
Not Scrupocellaria marsupiata: d’Hondt 1974: 3, part or whole. [= N. jeffreysii, see Souto et al. 2011].
Not Scrupocellaria marsupiata: d’Hondt 1975: 556, part or whole. [= S. hamartia sp. nov., S. virgulus sp. nov. and unknown, see below].
Not Notoplites marsupiatus: d’Hondt 1985: 41. [= S. batmani sp. nov., see below].
Not Notoplites marsupiatus: d’Hondt & Schopf 1985: 913. [= S. batmani sp. nov. and S. virgulus sp. nov.?, see below].
? Notoplites marsupiata [sic]: Hayward 1978: 211.
Notoplites marsupiatus: Souto et al. 2011: 36, figs 12–15.
Material examined. MNHN-IB-2008-2817 (lectotype, Fig. 1), MNHN-IB-2008-1042 (paralectotype), and MNHN-IB-2008-2819 (a small fragment): Travailleur 1881, D. 1, 43º00’40’’N, 09º37’00’’W (corrected following Ryland 1969: 238), 2018 m, 10 Jun. 1881 (see Souto et al. 2011). Other material examined: MNHN-IB-2008-7505: Biaçores stn. 120, 39º03.5’N, 32º43.5’W, 2100 m, a single small and poorly preserved base of a colony, in ethanol; MNHN-IB-2008-7530: Biaçores stn. 165, 37º33’N, 25º58’W, 2050–2085 m, a tiny colony fragment in ethanol; MNHN-IB-2008-7545: Biaçores stn. 195, 37º56’N, 24º49.5’W, 1700–1776 m, a few poorly preserved zooids in ethanol; MNHN-IB-2008-7595: Biaçores stn. 249, 45º50’N, 17º32’W, 4620–4690 m, a poorly preserved colony base with few zooids, in ethanol. All samples identified by d’Hondt (1975) as Scrupocellaria marsupiata.
Remarks. As already stated above, Jullien (1882) described Scrupocellaria marsupiata for several fragments collected at 2018 m depth off the northwestern Iberian Peninsula. According to the redescription by Souto et al. (2011, as N. marsupiatus), the species is characterized by small autozooids (about 0.5 mm long), a scutum that is nearly as long as wide and with a stout spine distal to its base and about 15 radial fissures, a large lateral avicularium, an orifice that is as long as wide, and a very elongated ovicell.
The fact that Menipea clausa was soon considered a synonym of Scrupocellaria marsupiata (see Jullien 1888; Waters 1888; Calvet 1907; Harmer 1923; Prenant & Bobin 1966) meant that this species remained the only species having a flabelliform scutum with a fimbriated edge. This was the reason why later authors used this name for any species with a similar scutum collected in the North Atlantic. However, specimens assigned to the nominal species reported subsequent to the original description do not actually belong to Scrupocellaria marsupiata. Firstly, Souto et al. (2011) already demonstrated that M. clausa is a different species and transferred it to the genus Notoplites (see also below). Harmer (1923, as N. marsupiatus) was actually referring to the type material of M. clausa. The record from the Azores by Calvet (1931) as N. marsupiatus proved to be a new species, N. saojorgensis (cf. Berning 2013) (see also below). Another record from the Azores made by d’Hondt (1973) as Scrupocellaria marsupiata really corresponds to Scutoplites clausus n. comb. after revision of the original sample (MNHN-IB-2008-6744) (see below). D’Hondt (1974) reported Scrupocellaria marsupiata from four stations off the northwestern Iberian Peninsula, but reference material actually corresponds to N. jeffreysii (Norman, 1868) according to Souto et al. (2011). D’Hondt (1975) then reported Scrupocellaria marsupiata from nine stations in the Azores and adjacent waters. However, material from Biaçores stations 54A and 64 belongs to Scutoplites hamartia sp. nov. (see below), and material from station 245 to Scutoplites virgulus sp. nov. (see below). The specimens from stations 120, 165, 195 and 249 (MNHN-IB-2008-7505, 7530, 7545 and 7595, see ‘Other material examined’ above) is so poorly preserved that it is not possible to identify it to species level, and, finally, no material seems to exist from stations 126 and 159, so it is not possible to elucidate which species these specimens may belong to. In fact, Berning (2013) already pointed out the possibility that several species were combined under the name Scrupocellaria marsupiata in the work by d’Hondt (1975). The species was reported again by Hayward (1978, as N. marsupiata [sic]) at 1980 m depth north of the Iberian Peninsula and at 1550 m in the northwestern Bay of Biscay. However, we have not been able to locate the material reported in that paper at the NHMUK, so we cannot confirm which species it may correspond to. Again, d’Hondt (1985) recorded N. marsupiatus far west of Galicia Bank at 4270–4360 m depth, and halfway between the Azores and Madeira at 4900–4960 m depth, but the revision of the original material confirms that it belongs to a new species, Scutoplites batmani sp. nov. (see below). Finally, d’Hondt & Schopf (1985) reported N. marsupiatus off New Jersey at 3806 m depth and at the equatorial Mid-Atlantic Ridge at 3730–3783 m depth, but again the revision of the original material confirms that it belongs to other species (S. batmani sp. nov. and perhaps S. virgulus sp. nov., see below).
In summary, at present Scutoplites marsupiatus n. comb. is known with certainty only from the NW Iberian Peninsula at 2018 m depth. Its presence in other nearby areas, such as the Bay of Biscay, remains to be confirmed by collecting new material.
Scrupocellaria marsupiata is here selected as the type species of Scutoplites n. gen.
description: Published as part of Reverter-Gil, Oscar, Souto, Javier & Berning, Björn, 2025, Unexpected diversity in North Atlantic deep waters hidden under Scrupocellaria marsupiata (Bryozoa: Cheilostomatida), pp. 326-350 in Zootaxa 5618 (3) on pages 329-330, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5618.3.2, http://zenodo.org/record/15218195