Pleurobranchus forskalii Rüppel & Leuckart, 1828

Tibiriçá, Yara, Pola, Marta & Cervera, Juan Lucas, 2017, Astonishing diversity revealed: an annotated and illustrated inventory of Nudipleura (Gastropoda: Heterobranchia) from Mozambique, Zootaxa 4359 (1), pp. 1-133 : 12

publication ID	https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4359.1.1
publication LSID	lsid:zoobank.org:pub:8D06174D-B19F-4B5C-B9B0-DA74E6D43C75
DOI	https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6025740
persistent identifier	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/03EB87A2-FFDB-FF8F-9790-FDFAFD18FAC5
treatment provided by	Plazi (2017-12-01 10:00:15, last updated 2024-11-28 18:37:34)
scientific name	Pleurobranchus forskalii Rüppel & Leuckart, 1828
status

Treatment

( Figure 2 H–I View FIGURE 2 )

Material examined. Four specimens. MB28-004434, ZRP, 10 Dec. 2011, 1m, 35mm; MHN-YT596, BL, 12 Oct. 2012, 2m, 120mm; MB28-004904, MIF, 11 Jun. 2016, 3m, 88mm; MHN-YT1655, NHR, 23 Oct. 2016, 8m, 200mm (crawling on sand).

Habitats. Subtropical tidal reefs, rocky reefs and seagrass and tropical coral bommies and seagrass.

Occurrences. Zavora, Barra, Mozambique Island and Nuarro.

Geographic distribution. Indo-west Pacific. Japan, Papua New Guinea, Australia, Fiji, Indonesia, Philippines (Gosliner et al. 2008; Goodheart et al. 2015), Gulf of Oman ( Fatemi & Attaran-Fariman 2015), Thailand ( Mehrota & Scott 2015), Red Sea, Tanzania (Gosliner et al. 2008; Goodheart et al. 2015) and Mozambique.

Remarks. Goodheart et al. (2015) reviewed the genus Pleurobranchus based on molecular and morphology and observed that colour variation in this species is related to the ontogeny, where juveniles are lighter in colour than adults. Small specimens from Mozambique show complex colouration with several hues of brown mixed with small amounts of grey and white. The large and small tubercles often have a reddish dot at the top. A dark brown ring subtended by a whitish semi ring surrounds each large compound tubercle ( Fig. 2 G View FIGURE 2 ). The base of the foot is translucent light-brown spotted with dark-brown, irregular marks. The larger specimen had a dark-purple mantle with partly open white rings surrounding each cluster of tubercles ( Fig. 2 H View FIGURE 2 ). In this morphotype, the base of the foot is the same colour as the rest of the mantle.

References

Goodheart, J., Camacho-Garcia, Y., Padula, V., Schrodl, M., Cervera, J. L., Gosliner, T. M. & Valdes, A. (2015) Systematics and biogeography of Pleurobranchus Cuvier, 1804, sea slugs (Heterobranchia: Nudipleura: Pleurobranchidae). Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 174, 322 - 362. https: // doi. org / 10.1111 / zoj. 12237

Fatemi, Y. & Attaran-Fariman, G. (2015) Checklist of the opisthobranchs (Heterobranchia: Gastropoda) along the Iranian Coasts of the Gulf of Oman. Journal of Biodiversity Environmental Science, 6, 1 - 7.

Mehrotra, R. & Scott, C. (2015) Species inventory of sea slugs (Gastropoda: Heterobranchia) for Koh Tao, Thailand, with 25 first records fo Thai waters. Marine Biodiversity, 46, 761 - 771. https: // doi. org / 10.1007 / s 12526 - 015 - 0424 - 7

Ruppell, W. P. E. S. & Leuckart, F. S. (1828) Mollusca. In: Atlas zu der Reise im nordlichen Afrika. v on Eduard Ruppell. 1. Abth. Zoologie. 5. Neue wirbellose. Thiere des Rothen Meers, Frankfurt, pp. 15 - 47, pls. 1 - 12.

Figures

FIGURE 2. A, Berthella martensi (MB28-004607). B–D, Berthellina delicata species complex (MB28-005057, MB28- 004578, MB28-005060, respectively). E, Berthellina sp. (MB28-005016). F, Pleurobranchaea brockii (in situ). G, Pleurobranchus albiguttatus (MB28-004603). H–I, Pleurobranchus forskalii (MB28-004434 and MHN-YT1655, respectively). J, Pleurobranchus grandis (in situ). K–L, Pleurobranchus peronii (MHN-YT276 and MB28-005042, respectively).