Piseinotecus sphaeriferus (Schmekel, 1965)

(Figure 4 (f))

Material examined

Punta del Romaní, l’Escala, Girona (Catalunya), 42°6 ʹ 53.088”N, 3°10 ʹ 6.765”E, 8 November 2014, 1 spc .; Le Ponton, Étang de Thau, Sète (France), 43°25 ʹ 28.5”N, 3°42 ʹ E, 20 May 2018, 0.4 m depth, 1 spc ., adult, L = 13 mm.

External morphology

Body elongate, narrow, background colour transparent white. Rhinophores and oral tentacles smooth, translucent with white spots. Cerata smooth, background colour white or beige, base with a green iridescent sphere at their base; first and second row of cerata connected with a dark line.

Ecology

The singleton specimen was found on the hydrozoan Obelia sp. at night. Distribution

Ghana (Edmunds 1977); Portugal (Cervera et al. 2004); Italy and Adriatic Sea (Zenetos et al. 2016); Spain: Canary Islands (Ortea et al. 2003), Catalonia (GROC 2009–2021; Ballesteros et al. 2016); France (this study).

Remarks

This elusive species is easily diagnosed by an iridescent green sphere at the base of the cerata (Ortea et al. 2003).

Family TRINCHESIIDAE F. Nordsieck, 1972

Genus Tenellia A. Costa, 1866