An inquiline deep-water bryozoan/amphipod association from New Zealand, including the description of a new genus and species of Chevaliidae

• Main Authors: Anne-Nina Lörz, Alan Myers, Dennis Gordon
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Consortium of European Natural History Museums 2014-01-01
• Series: European Journal of Taxonomy
• Subjects: Amphipoda; Chevaliidae; Bryozoa; commensalmism; New Zealand
• Online Access: http://www.europeanjournaloftaxonomy.eu/index.php/ejt/article/view/194

For the first time Amphipoda have been discovered living in Bryozoa. A new genus and species of the amphipod family<strong> </strong>Chevaliidae<strong>, </strong><em>Bryoconversor tutus</em> gen. et<strong><em> </em></strong>sp. nov.<em> </em>is described from New Zealand at 530–1500 m depth<em>. </em>The species lives in an inquiline relationship with the cheilostome bryozoan <em>Onchoporoides moseleyi</em> (Calwelliidae), inhabiting an abfrontal basal coelom of the bryozoan beneath the membranous ectocyst (cuticularized epithelium) that conceals and protects the amphipods. The colony is strengthened along all edges by a unique intracoelomic rod of calcium carbonate that is formed within the marginal kenozooids of the colony. The potential benefits and costs to the bryozoan are discussed.