Navanax gemmatus (Mörch, 1863), Morch, 1863

Gutiérrez, Manuel Caballer, Ortea, Jesús, Rivero, Nelsy, Tucker, Gabriela Carias, Malaquias, Manuel António E. & Narciso, Samuel, 2015, The opisthobranch gastropods (Mollusca: Heterobranchia) from Venezuela: an annotated and illustrated inventory of species, Zootaxa 4034 (2), pp. 201-256 : 210

2. Navanax gemmatus (Mörch, 1863)

( Figure 2 B)

Material examined. WYL, 1 spc., H = 27 mm, IVICCM000114. YL, 2 spcs, H = 20, 50 mm, ZMBN 84912. EYL, 6 spcs, H = 10–30 mm, ZMBN 84908. IA, 1 spc., PNC.

Ecology. 0.5–1 m deep, commonly found under rocks or crawling on rocks, seldom on sand.

Distribution. ABC Islands, Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Curaçao, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Honduras, Jamaica, Martinique, Mexico, St. Barthelemy /St. Bartholomew, St. Vincent & the Grenadines, USA, Virgin Islands, Venezuela (Valdés et al. 2006, Rosenberg 2009. Mochima: Gavagnin et al. 2000).

Remarks. Recently, Ornelas-Gatdula et al. (2012), based on molecular evidence, considered all records of Navanax aenigmaticus ( Bergh, 1893) in the Caribbean to be N. gemmatus , which is according to the authors the only species of the genus occurring in the western Atlantic Ocean. This species is known to feed upon other “opisthobranchs” (Valdés et al. 2006) and we have observed it feeding on the sacoglossan Elysia crispata during fieldwork while they were temporarily left together on a tray. This species releases a reddish-yellow substance when disturbed.

Figures

FIGURE 2. A, Migaya felis, 1 iving specimen and spawn. B, Navanax gemmatus. C, Chelidonura hirundinina. D, Philine buchensis. E, Bulla occidentalis, ϳuveni 1 e. F, Bulla occidentalis. G, Haminoea cf. elegans. H, Lapinura divae. I, Aplysia dactylomela. J, Aplysia brasiliana. K, Aplysia juliana. L, Dolabrifera dolabrifera. M, Petalifera ramosa.