Antonietta Rosso

Enhanced biodiversity in the deep: Early Pleistocene coral communities from southern Italy

The Early Pleistocene fault plane of Furnari, that outcrops in northeastern Sicily (southern Italy), provided a primary hard substrate for the settling and growth of large coral colonies. Even though the corals did not form frameworks, they influenced the composition and distribution of the benthic communities. Corals and associated fauna produced organogenic debris, which was deposited along the fault scarp, within its fractures or at its base.

Revision of the north‐eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean species of the genera Herentia and Therenia (Bryozoa: Cheilostomata)

The cheilostome genera Herentia Gray and Therenia David and Pouyet, placed in the recently established family Escharinidae Tilbrook, were hitherto generally regarded as synonyms of Escharina Milne Edwards. Here we resurrect and define both genera, and revise their eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean species, which turn out to be species complexes. Besides presenting a re‐description of the genotype of Herentia, H. hyndmanni (Johnston) from the British Isles, new species from Madeira (Herentia andreasi n. sp.) and the Adriatic Sea (Herentia majae n. sp.) are introduced. The ancestrula of H. hyndmanni, a kenozooid with an almost completely calcified, gymnocystal frontal shield, is here documented for the first time. For Therenia it can be shown that the type species T. porosa (Smitt) from Florida differs from the eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean congeners, all of which were hitherto referred to as this species. Consequently, three new species (Therenia cryptooecium n. sp. from Ghana, Therenia peristomata n. sp. from Madeira, and Therenia rosei n. sp. from the Mediterranean Sea) are described. Both genera show a Paleogene origin and distribution in the Tethyan and Atlantic regions, and persist today in tropical to warm‐temperate zones of the Atlantic and Mediterranean Sea. Investigation of poorly studied, low‐ to mid‐latitude regions are likely to yield more new species of Herentia and Therenia.

Deep-sea Pleistocene Bryozoa of Southern Italy

Abstract The bryozoan communities contained in deep-sea Pleistocene sediments cropping out in several localities of Southern Italy appear richer and more diversified than those living in the Recent Mediterranean. They are characterized by several groups of species having different origin and meaning: a) eurybathic palaeomediterranean, probably Tethysian, species; b) bathyal Atlantic-Mediterranean species; c) species showing a clear affinity with (or having close counterparts in) Recent Atlantic species. The eurybathic species can be considered as “Northern Guests” or “Residual Northern Guests” whereas the bathyal ones are “Atlantic Guests”. The occurrence of such cold stenothermic species in the Mediterranean suggests that environmental conditions of this basin during the Early Pleistocene where markedly different from the Recent ones. The subsequent disappearance of those species seems to be linked to the climatic change but also to the hydrological changes undergone by the Mediterranean when it passed from an ocean-connected to a closed basin, the latter characterized by deep-water homothermy.

Bryozoan Communities and Thanatocoenoses from Submarine Caves in the Plemmirio Marine Protected Area (SE Sicily)

Living and dead bryozoan communities from three caves in the “Plemmirio Marine Protected Area” (SE Sicily, Italy) were studied. Species richness from each cave and from the area as a whole (72 species) are comparable to those observed in other regions and caves within the Mediterranean. Communities consist largely of cave dwellers, sciaphilic and cryptic species, often related to coralligenous habitats, but include also some generalist species components. Bryozoans from hard surfaces (vaults, walls and floor) and bottom sediments were studied separately taking into account both living specimens and thanatocoenoses. According to previous data, communities of hard surfaces exhibit a trend of decreasing species richness towards the inner area and a clear patchiness, unlike those in sediments whose distribution appears strongly related to local sediment texture. Dead colonies and fragments from both hard surfaces and bottom sediments contribute valuable information concerning the pool of species potentially inhabiting caves. The usefulness and limits of different sampling methods for the study of cave bryozoans are discussed.

Cooling evidence from Pleistocene shelf assemblages in SE Sicily

Abstract A short Lower Pleistocene section, cropping out in SE Sicily, is studied. The sequence mainly consists of richly fossiliferous sandy layers with Arctica islandica, deposited in mid-shelf environments. Molluscs, bryozoans, serpuloideans and calcareous algae are investigated, to identify species with palaeoclimatological implications. Apart from some well-known North Atlantic molluscs, other species are identified as palaeoclimatological tools. Cooling evidence is provided by such palaeoclimatological indicators and by the increasing shell size in some species.

Serpulid communities from two marine caves in the Aegean Sea, eastern Mediterranean

rossana sanfilippo, antonietta rosso, adriano guido and vasilis gerovasileiou Department of Biological, Geological and Environmental Sciences, University of Catania, Corso Italia, 57, I-95129 Catania, Italy, Department of Biology, Ecology and Earth Sciences, University of Calabria, Via Bucci, cubo 15b, I-87036 Rende, Cosenza, Italy, Institute of Marine Biology, Biotechnology and Aquaculture, Hellenic Centre for Marine Research, 71500 Heraklion, Crete, Greece

Microfossils, a Key to Unravel Cold-Water Carbonate Mound Evolution through Time: Evidence from the Eastern Alboran Sea

Cold-water coral (CWC) ecosystems occur worldwide and play a major role in the oceans carbonate budget and atmospheric CO2 balance since the Danian (~65 m.y. ago). However their temporal and spatial evolution against climatic and oceanographic variability is still unclear. For the first time, we combine the main macrofaunal components of a sediment core from a CWC mound of the Melilla Mounds Field in the Eastern Alboran Sea with the associated microfauna and we highlight the importance of foraminifera and ostracods as indicators of CWC mound evolution in the paleorecord. Abundances of macrofauna along the core reveal alternating periods dominated by distinct CWC taxa (mostly Lophelia pertusa, Madrepora oculata) that correspond to major shifts in foraminiferal and ostracod assemblages. The period dominated by M. oculata coincides with a period characterized by increased export of refractory organic matter to the seafloor and rather unstable oceanographic conditions at the benthic boundary layer with periodically decreased water energy and oxygenation, variable bottom water temperature/density and increased sediment flow. The microfaunal and geochemical data strongly suggest that M. oculata and in particular Dendrophylliidae show a higher tolerance to environmental changes than L. pertusa. Finally, we show evidence for sustained CWC growth during the Alleröd-Younger-Dryas in the Eastern Alboran Sea and that this period corresponds to stable benthic conditions with cold/dense and well oxygenated bottom waters, high fluxes of labile organic matter and relatively strong bottom currents

Bryozoans and serpuloideans in skeletobiont communities from the Pleistocene of Sicily: spatial utilisation and competitive interactions

Sessile encrusters with mineralised skeletons in the fossil record generally retain their original spatial relationships to the substrate and each other. Being short living and not significantly time averaged, communities on shelly substrates represent excellent systems to study such relationships. Bryozoan and serpuloidean skeletobionts on molluscs and rhodolites from Lower Pleistocene localities in Sicily have been studied. Species composition and specimen sizes testify to a short exposure of the shells on the sea floor. Skeletobiont community structure is characterised by the dominance of a few species (5 bryozoans out of 87 and 3 serpuloideans out of 17). Substrate coverage is usually low (<5%), rarely reaching 50-60% or more. On bivalves, skeletobiont distribution does not exhibit a clear trend for inner/outer sides or left/right valves. Oriented growths, differential patterns in microenvironment utilisation of the substrate and spatial competition have been analysed. Several of the recorded overgrowths resulted from superimposition of specimens growing on skeletons of previous, already dead encrusters. True competitive interactions mainly involved bryozoans and only a few serpuloideans. Within bryozoans interspecific encounters usually led to overgrowth or abutment whereas intraspecific encounters commonly resulted in standoffs and growth side by side in cheilostomes, and to fusion of colonies in some cyclostome species.

The first catenicellid (Bryozoa, Ascophora) from Mediterranean shallow waters: a hidden resident or a new immigrant?

Catenicella paradoxa sp. nov. is described from Mediterranean shallow bottoms. Colonies are small, rooted, erect and articulated, each segment either sterile unizooidal or bizooidal, or fertile bizooidal. Basal parts consist of an “articulated basal complex”, sometimes related to thick encrusting tubes, invariably followed by morphologically ordinary zooids belonging to each type of segment. The hypotheses of small separate colonies or subcolonies from a network of encrusting tubes are discussed, but relationships with the substratum remain unclear. The species represents the first known Mediterranean catenicellid, a family taxon with a warm, mostly Australasian present-day distribution. Nevertheless, catenicellids and Catenicella species have a long history in the European area from the Middle Eocene to the Early Pleistocene, with at least four different species. In this context, the meaning of C. paradoxa sp. nov. is discussed, bearing in mind problems of species spreading in relation to global warming and human activities.

Marine Bryozoa of Greece: an annotated checklist

Abstract Background Until today, a complete checklist of Bryozoa of the Greek seas had never been published and species records were scattered in several taxonomic and ecological studies. The aim of this paper is to produce a first checklist of marine bryozoan species of Greece, in the framework of the Greek Taxon Information System (GTIS) initiative of the LifeWatchGreece Research Infrastructure (ESFRI), by reviewing the existing literature and following the recent trends in the taxonomy of this group.  New information The marine bryozoan fauna of Greece comprises 237 species, classified in 127 genera, 66 families, 3 orders, and 2 classes. The vast majority belongs to the class Gymnolaemata (177 Cheilostomatida and 21 Ctenostomatida), while the remaining 39 species are Stenolaemata (all Cyclostomatida). Among these species, 12 are considered endemic to the eastern Mediterranean, while another 12 species are non-indigenous.