Piseinotecus sphaeriferus (Schmekel, 1965)

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 : 286-287

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

Figures

Figure 4. Photographs of live Nudibranchia species: (a) The pelagic Phylliroe cf. bucephala. (b) Amphorina andra surrounded by hydrozoans of the genus Sertularella. (c) Eubranchus prietoi on the hydrozoan Kirchenpaueria halecioides. (d) The alien Godiva quadricolor. (e) Three specimens of Piseinotecus soussi and their egg masses. (f) Piseinotecus sphaeriferus on top of the hydrozoan Obelia sp. (g) Tenellia adspersa. (h) Trinchesia cuanensis on top of the hydrozoan Sertularella sp.