6533b7ddfe1ef96bd1275168

RESEARCH PRODUCT

Distansescharella seguenzai Cipolla, 1921 (Bryozoa, Cheilostomata),nouvelles données morphologiques et écologiques tirées de spécimens fossiles (Miocène, Pliocène) et actuels de Méditerranée

Jean-georges HarmelinPierre MoissettePierre MoissetteJulia BoronatJulia BoronatAntonietta RossoAntonietta Rosso

subject

BiotopeMediterranean climateSpecies complexbiologyEcologyCheilostomataPaleontologybiology.organism_classificationNeogenePaleontologyHabitatSpace and Planetary SciencePaleoecologyBryozoa

description

The cribrimorph Distansescharella seguenzai Cipolla,,1921, described from the Pliocene of Sicily has been rediscovered in fossil deposits (Messinian of Western Algeria, and Lower Pliocene of Calabria, Southern Italy) and in Recent Mediterranean material (Straits of Gibraltar, Alboran Sea, Gulf of Tripoli). Its morphology is demonstrated by SEM study of living specimens. In spite of some differences with the type-species of Distansescharella D'Orbigny revealed by examination of its neotype, the generic status of D. seguenzai is confirmed. An ecological analysis of the Recent and fossil assemblages including D. seguenzai is made by considering the zoarial growth forms and the potential habitat distributions of the coexisting species (limited for the fossil assemblages to the species still living in the Mediterranean). The biotope of this small encrusting cryptic species seems to be slightly deeper in the Recent Mediterranean than during the Neogene.

yearjournalcountryeditionlanguage
1989-01-01Geobios
https://doi.org/10.1016/s0016-6995(89)80100-7