Thuridilla malaquita Ortea & Buske, 2014

Delgado, Marlon, Freire, Fúlvio Aurélio de Morais, Meirelles, Carlos Augusto Oliveira de, Padula, Vinicius, Bahia, Juliana & Brandão, Simone Nunes, 2022, Sea slugs (Gastropoda: Heterobranchia) from Rio Grande do Norte, Northeastern Brazil, Papéis Avulsos de Zoologia 62, pp. 1-26 : 8

11. Thuridilla malaquita Ortea & Buske, 2014 ( Fig. 2K )

Material examined: Parrachos de Maracajaú, Maxaranguape, 23.IV.2015, one specimen, 15 mm (body length), phot. reg. T. Accioly.

Description: Elongated and cylindrical body. Background color grayish-green in the anterior region and moss-green in the posterior region up to the tail, marked with numerous yellow rounded tubercles, present on both sides of the body. Head very evident, with black eyes at the base of the rhinophores, which are oblique, tightly curled and elongated. Oral region vivid orange. In the medial to the posterior portion, parapodia present with thick, broad and irregularly wavy margins that maintain the pattern of undulations up to the tip of the foot. Both parapodia with cream-white margin and, when closed, they cover a third of the pericardium near the head region. Pericardium voluminous with the same cream color of the entire back of the animal.

Geographic distribution: Western Atlantic: Colombia, Costa Rica, Grenada, Martinique (as Thuridilla sp. ), Venezuela and Brazil (Rio Grande do Norte – present study) ( Valdés et al., 2006; Camacho-García et al., 2014; Ortea & Buske, 2014).

Remarks: Martín-Hervás et al. (2021) confirmed the occurrence of the genus Thuridilla in the Atlantic Ocean.The specimen recorded agreed to the ones of Thuridilla sp. illustrated by Valdés et al. (2006), a species later described as T. malaquita by Ortea & Buske (2014). This is the first record of the genus Thuridilla from Brazil and the first record of T. malaquita from the South Atlantic Ocean.

Figures

Figure 2. Heterobranch sea slugs from Rio Grande do Norte. (A) Micromelo undatus (15 mm – GEEFAA 294); (B) Haminoea antillarum (2 mm – GEEFAA 344); (C)Camachoaglaja berolina(7 mm– GEEFAA270);(D)Chelidonurahirundinina(16mm– GEEFAA1320);(E)Navanaxgemmatus (40mm– MZSP97068);(F)Ascobulla ulla (7 mm – MZSP 97049); (G) Oxynoe antillarum (25 mm – GEEFAA 352); (H) Elysia canguzua (15 mm – GEEFAA 295); (I) Elysia pawliki (25 mm – MZSP 97061); (J) Elysia subornata (14 mm – MZSP 97050); (K) Thuridilla malaquita (15 mm – phot. reg.); (L) Caliphylla mediterranea (9 mm – GEEFAA 349); (M) Aplysia cervina (70mm – MZSP 97074); (N) Aplysia dactylomela (76 mm – MZSP 97073);(O) Bursatellaleachii (75 mm – GEEFAA 324).