Pseudobiceros bajae (Hyman, 1953)

Ramos-Sánchez, Mariela, 2024, The polyclads (Platyhelminthes: Polycladida) from the Tropical Eastern Pacific: Commented checklist and description of a new species, European Journal of Taxonomy 962 (1), pp. 1-67 : 45

Pseudobiceros bajae (Hyman, 1953)

Pseudoceros bajae Hyman, 1953a: 365–366 , figs 135–136 (type locality: Puerto Peñasco, Sonora, Mexico).

Pseudoceros bajae – Brusca 1980: 72 (identification keys).

Cryptobiceros bajae – Faubel 1984b: 215 (new combination, identification keys).

Pseudobiceros bajae – Newman & Cannon 1994: 240 (new combination). — Soutullo et al. 2021: 373–374, fig. 7b–f (new record from Carbón and Langosta Beaches, Las Baulas National Park of Guanacaste, Costa Rica).

Distribution

La Paz Bay, Baja California Sur, Puerto Peñasco and Miramar Beach, Guaymas, Sonora, Mexico; Carbón and Langosta Beaches, Las Baulas National Park of Guanacaste, Costa Rica.

Habitat

Benthic; low intertidal, under stones on sand and in intertidal pools under stones ( Soutullo et al. 2021).

Remarks

Pseudobiceros bajae is characterized by an oval-elongate body tapered in the posterior region, a black coloration with whitish speckles, pseudotentacles, a sparsely branched pharynx, and a double male reproductive system with an unarmed penis papilla and lacking a cement glandular pouch. Hyman (1953a) described the species as Pseudoceros bajae . Latre, Faubel (1984b) established it as the type species of the genus Cryptobiceros Faubel, 1984 , determining it as Cryptobiceros bajae , based on the smooth dorsal surface, the double male reproductive system with unarmed penis papilla, the female reproductive system, and the presence of tentacular and cerebral eyes. Subsequently, Newman & Cannon (1994) proposed a new combination for the species and determined it as Pseudobiceros bajae , based on the dorsal coloration pattern, the morphology of the pharynx, the eyes, the pseudotentacles and the anatomy of the reproductive system. However, in Pseudobiceros the determinant character of the genus is the presence of an armed penis papilla, a character absent in Pseudobiceros bajae , therefore, an exhaustive revision of the determinant characters of the species is suggested.