New Distributional Record of the Freshwater Phylactolaemate Bryozoan Rumarcanella himalayana Annandale, 1911 from Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve, Erode District, Tamil Nadu, India
Jayasree Thilak *
Zoological Survey of India, Southern Regional Centre, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India.
Soja Louis
Department of Zoology, St. Teresa’s College (Autonomous), Cochin, Kerala, India.
Timothy S. Wood
Department of Biological Sciences, Wright State University, Dayton, OH 45435, USA and Department of Life Sciences, Natural History Museum, London, United Kingdom.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
A new distributional record of the of Phylactolaemate Bryozoan Rumarcanella himalayana Annandale, 1911 is described from the Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve of Western Ghats of Tamil Nadu, India. The zooplankton samples were collected by extensive survey undertaken by the scientific team of Zoological Survey of India, Southern Regional Centre, Chennai, Tamil Nadu from the various waterbodies of Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve, Erode district, Tamil Nadu during the year 2023 as a part of the Annual Programme of Research Work. The family Plumatellidae Allman, 1856 is poorly studied in India and is represented by four genera viz. Plumatella Lamarck, 1816, Hyalinella Jullien, 1885, Rumarcanella Hirose and Mawatari, 2011 and Swarupella Shrivastava, 1981. The genus Rumarcanella Hirose and Mawatari, 2011 is represented by five species from India viz. Rumarcanella vorstmani Rumarcanella indica Annandale, 1909 which were later synonimysed as Rumarcanella himalayana, Rumarcanella gusuku Hirose & Mawatari, 2011 and Rumarcanella yanbaruensis Hirose & Mawatari, 2011. There are only few studies on the freshwater bryozoans from the state of Tamil Nadu. The present study reports for the first time one species of bryozoan from the Tamil Nadu especially from the Western Ghats. The presence of the floatoblasts in the zooplankton samples from Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve represents a significant contribution by extending the geographical distribution range of Rumarcanella himalayana, a freshwater bryozoan previously unrecorded in the Western Ghats of India. The present discovery of this species in the Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve adds valuable data to the biodiversity of the ecologically rich Western Ghats and also provides information into the role of these organisms as bioindicators in freshwater ecosystems. Furthermore, the present report highlights the need for further exploration and taxonomic studies on freshwater bryozoa which remains underexplored in Western Ghats of India, will paves the way for future investigations into their ecological and environmental significance.
Keywords: Bryozoa, Rumarcanella, Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve, Western Ghats of Tamil Nadu, India