Todaro M. Antonio

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Todaro
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M. Antonio
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  • Article
    Aethozooides uraniae, a new deep-sea genus and species of solitary bryozoan from the Mediterranean Sea, with a revision of the Aethozoidae
    (Springer, 2019-04-04) Schwaha, Thomas ; Bernhard, Joan M. ; Edgcomb, Virginia P. ; Todaro, M. Antonio
    Bryozoa is a phylum of about 6000 extant species that are almost exclusively colonial. Few species of the uncalcified Gymnolaemata, the ctenostomes, however, show solitary forms that essentially consist of single zooids. Recently, several specimens of a solitary ctenostome bryozoan were encountered for the first time in the deep Mediterranean Sea, at the edge of an anoxic brine lake. Differences in size, tentacle number, and in the variability of cystid appendages set these specimens apart from all other known solitary species. Moreover, additional morphological autapomorphic traits suggest the erection of a novel genus to allocate the new species. Consequently, the new taxon Aethozooides gen. nov. is proposed in virtue of the general resemblance of the Mediterranean specimens with those of the genus Aethozoon Hayward, 1978. Aethozooides uraniae gen. et sp. nov. shows significant variability in the number and location of cystid appendages that range from two on the basal side to one or two on the zooid mid-peristomial position and/or, rarely, on the terminal frontal side. The polypide possesses a distinct, long tentacle crown always carrying 10 tentacles. The prominent retractor muscle consists of numerous bundles that, in contrast to other known gymnolaemates, attach not only to the lophophoral base but also to various parts of the gut. Distally, the aperture shows a set of four apertural muscles including four parieto-vaginal bands. Reviewing the state and diversity of solitary ctenostomes, we propose a revision of the family Aethozoidae to include the genera Franzenella d’Hondt, 1983, Aethozoon, Aethozooides, and two species currently affiliated to the genus Franzenella (F. monniotae and F. radicans) for which we erected the new taxon Solella gen. nov. Keywords
  • Article
    Metazoans of redoxcline sediments in Mediterranean deep-sea hypersaline anoxic basins
    (BioMed Central, 2015-12-10) Bernhard, Joan M. ; Morrison, Colin R. ; Pape, Ellen ; Beaudoin, David J. ; Todaro, M. Antonio ; Pachiadaki, Maria G. ; Kormas, Konstantinos Ar. ; Edgcomb, Virginia P.
    The deep-sea hypersaline anoxic basins (DHABs) of the Mediterranean (water depth ~3500 m) are some of the most extreme oceanic habitats known. Brines of DHABs are nearly saturated with salt, leading many to suspect they are uninhabitable for eukaryotes. While diverse bacterial and protistan communities are reported from some DHAB haloclines and brines, loriciferans are the only metazoan reported to inhabit the anoxic DHAB brines. Our goal was to further investigate metazoan communities in DHAB haloclines and brines. We report observations from sediments of three DHAB (Urania, Discovery, L’Atalante) haloclines, comparing these to observations from sediments underlying normoxic waters of typical Mediterranean salinity. Due to technical difficulties, sampling of the brines was not possible. Morphotype analysis indicates nematodes are the most abundant taxon; crustaceans, loriciferans and bryozoans were also noted. Among nematodes, Daptonema was the most abundant genus; three morphotypes were noted with a degree of endemicity. The majority of rRNA sequences were from planktonic taxa, suggesting that at least some individual metazoans were preserved and inactive. Nematode abundance data, in some cases determined from direct counts of sediments incubated in situ with CellTrackerTM Green, was patchy but generally indicates the highest abundances in either normoxic control samples or in upper halocline samples; nematodes were absent or very rare in lower halocline samples. Ultrastructural analysis indicates the nematodes in L’Atalante normoxic control sediments were fit, while specimens from L’Atalante upper halocline were healthy or had only recently died and those from the lower halocline had no identifiable organelles. Loriciferans, which were only rarely encountered, were found in both normoxic control samples as well as in Discovery and L’Atalante haloclines. It is not clear how a metazoan taxon could remain viable under this wide range of conditions. We document a community of living nematodes in normoxic, normal saline deep-sea Mediterranean sediments and in the upper halocline portions of the DHABs. Occurrences of nematodes in mid-halocline and lower halocline samples did not provide compelling evidence of a living community in those zones. The possibility of a viable metazoan community in brines of DHABs is not supported by our data at this time.
  • Dataset
    Supplemental files from “Metazoans of redoxcline sediments in Mediterranean deep-sea hypersaline anoxic basins” (Bernhard et al., submitted, BMC Biology).
    ( 2015-10-05) Bernhard, Joan M. ; Morrison, Colin R. ; Pape, Ellen ; Beaudoin, David J. ; Todaro, M. Antonio ; Pachiadaki, Maria G. ; Kormas, Konstantinos Ar. ; Edgcomb, Virginia P.
    Link provides access to supplemental tables and figures to our manuscript regarding metazoans of redoxcline sediments in Mediterranean deep-sea hypersaline anoxic basins (DHABs). Specimens shown in supplemental figures are loriciferans collected from control and lower halocline sediments of L'Atalante Basin and Discovery Basin. Further details appear in Bernhard et al. (submitted).