Runcina ornata ( Quatrefages, 1844 )

Salvador, Xavier, Fernández-Vilert, Robert & Moles, Juan, 2022, Sea slug night fever: 39 new records of elusive heterobranchs in the western Mediterranean (Mollusca: Gastropoda), Journal of Natural History 56 (5 - 8), pp. 265-310 : 292-293

Runcina ornata ( Quatrefages, 1844)

( Figure 5 (e))

Material examined

Cala d’Aiguafreda , Begur ( Spain), 41°57 ʹ 49”N, 3°13 ʹ 41”E, 13 October 2017, 0.1 m depth, 7 spcs, adults, L = 2–3 mm; 21 November 2017, 0.1 m depth, 1 spc., adult, L = 2 mm; 31 January 2018, 0.1 m depth, 9 spcs, adults, L = 2–3 mm; 23 April 2018, 0.1 m depth, 2 spcs, adults, L = 3 mm; 25 May 2018, 0.1 m depth, 2 spcs, adults, L = 3 mm; Punta del Romaní , L’Escala ( Spain), 42°6 ʹ 54”N. 3°10 ʹ 9”E, 10 January 2018, 0.2 m depth, 4 spcs, adults, L = 2–3 mm; 24 April 2018, 0.2 m depth, 3 spcs, adults, L = 2–3 mm; 7 December 2018, 0.2 m depth, 7 spcs, adults, L = 2–3 mm; Punta d’en Bosch, Sant Feliu de Guíxols ( Spain), 41°45 ʹ 54”N, 3°0 ʹ 11”E, 17 April 2018, 0.1 m depth, 5 spcs, adults, L = 1–3 mm .

External morphology

Body elongate, narrow, black or brown in colour, rear tail darker. Foot large.

Ecology

Specimens found grazing on biofouling at night over calcarean red algae or boulders, in very superficial waters.

Distribution

Atlantic Spanish coast: Canary Islands and Strait of Gibraltar ( Cervera et al. 2004) and Mediterranean Spanish coast: Catalonia (this study).

Remarks

This species is rarely observed and very small. Easily distinguishable from other Runcina species by its absence of spots and white marks and its uniform black colour ( Quatrefages 1844).

Superorder SACOGLOSSA Ihering, 1876

Family HERMAEIDAE H. Adams and A. Adams, 1854

Genus Aplysiopsis Deshayes, 1853

Figures

Figure 5. Photographs of live Pteropoda species: (a) Creseis virgula. (b) Hyalocylis striata. (c) Peracle reticulata. (d) Pneumodermopsis canephora. Runcinida: (e) Runcina ornata. Sacoglossa: (f) Aplysiopsis elegans. (g) Caliphylla mediterránea. (h) Cyerce graeca.