The epiphytic community on the endemic seagrass Posidonia oceanica from the Mediterranean Sea is well studied, but still harbors some little investigated epiphytic bryozoans. Numerous, yet always small colonies of Pherusella sp. were recently encountered in the Northern Adriatic Sea. The aim of this study was to generate data on the life history, colonial development, and reproduction of the Mediterranean population of this Pherusella species in order to gain a better understanding of the biology of this understudied species. The morphology of adult zooids was also studied due to the lack of recent data on the family with state-of-the-art techniques. Long-term observation shows that this species is highly adapted to an epiphytic life cycle with short generation time throughout the year. First laboratory cultures appear promising in establishing a reliable model system for developmental and ecological studies. Larvae are easily obtainable, and metamorphosis and colonial growth patterns are documented here for the first time. The morphology of adults shows distinct similarities with other pheruselllids and, along with the neuromuscular system, is similar to other alcyonidioideans supporting the close relationship of these taxa. This study constitutes one of the first long-time observations of the life cycle and colonial growth of a pherusellid bryozoan, including morphological data about the neuromuscular system of an otherwise incompletely known group of bryozoans. Pherusella sp. appears to be a promising candidate for future studies since it is easy to collect and maintain under laboratory conditions as well as to obtain different developmental stages.

中文翻译：

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来自地中海的附生 pherusellid ctenostome 苔藓虫的形态学和生命周期

来自地中海的地方性海草 Posidonia Oceanica 的附生群落得到了很好的研究，但仍然有一些很少研究的附生苔藓虫。Pherusella sp 的许多但总是小的菌落。最近在北亚得里亚海遇到了。本研究的目的是生成有关该 Pherusella 物种地中海种群的生活史、殖民地发展和繁殖的数据，以便更好地了解这一未被研究的物种的生物学。由于缺乏具有最先进技术的家庭的最新数据，还研究了成年动物的形态。长期观察表明，该物种高度适应附生生命周期，全年世代时间短。最初的实验室培养似乎有希望为发育和生态研究建立可靠的模型系统。幼虫很容易获得，这里首次记录了变态和群落生长模式。成虫的形态与其他 pheruselllids 显示出明显的相似性，并且与神经肌肉系统一起，与支持这些类群密切关系的其他 alcyonidioideans 相似。这项研究构成了对 pherusellid 苔藓虫的生命周期和群落生长的首次长期观察之一，包括有关其他不完全了解的苔藓虫群的神经肌肉系统的形态学数据。Pherusella sp.