Discodoris branneri MacFarland, 1909

Delgado, Marlon, Freire, Fúlvio Aurélio de Morais, Meirelles, Carlos Augusto Oliveira de, Padula, Vinicius, Bahia, Juliana & Brandão, Simone Nunes, 2022, Sea slugs (Gastropoda: Heterobranchia) from Rio Grande do Norte, Northeastern Brazil, Papéis Avulsos de Zoologia 62, pp. 1-26 : 14-15

26. Discodoris branneri MacFarland, 1909 ( Fig. 3K )

Material examined: Praia de Pirambúzios, Nísia Floresta , 12.III.2009, three specimens, 40-70 mm (body length), leg. V. Padula ( MZSP 97063 ; GEEFAA 309 ) and a fragment in 100% alcohol, leg. V. Padula ( MZSP 97053 ) ; 26.III.2009, one specimen, 90 mm (body length), leg. M. Delgado ( GEEFAA 326 ), 28.II.2010, one specimen, 64 mm (body length), leg. M. Delgado ( GEEFAA 325 ). Praia de Baia Formosa, Baia Formosa, 04.VII.2009, one specimen, 4 mm (body length), leg. M. Delgado ( GEEFAA 266 ). Praia de Pitangui, Extremoz, 11.I.2019, one specimen, 48 mm (body length), leg. M. Delgado ( GEEFAA 1316 ) .

Geographic distribution: Western Atlantic: Bahamas, Barbados, Cayman Islands, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guadeloupe, Honduras, Jamaica, Panama, Puerto Rico, Martinique, Mexico, St. Lucia, St.Vicent & the Grenadines, USA, Venezuela, Virgin Islands, Brazil (Alagoas, Bahia, Ceará, Pernambuco, Rio de Janeiro, Rio Grande do Norte – present study, São Paulo) ( MacFarland, 1909; Marcus, 1955, Er. Marcus & Ev. Marcus, 1970; García et al., 2008, as D. evelinae ; Padula et al., 2012; Alvim & Pimenta, 2013; Galvão-Filho et al., 2015).

Description: Body flat and elliptical, with dark brown spots, and three oval-shaped, black spots organized in three "lines″, and whitish spots larger in size than the last ones on the notum. Rhinophores brown with diminute, whitish spots. Gills translucent, light brown with small brown spots. Ventrally, notum creamish with irregular shaped, dark brown spots. Foot with dark brown, irregular shaped spots. Anteriorly, the edge of the mantle covering the head. Bilabiated labium. Retractile and lamellate rhinophores. Medially, notum with numerous, conical, tubercles variable in size. Posteriorly, with high, anal cone. Posteroventrally, smooth, muscular foot narrower than notum.

Figures

Figure 3. Heterobranchsea slugsfrom Rio Grandedo Norte.(A) Phyllaplysiaengeli (6mm – GEEFAA342);(B)Berthela agassizii(11mm –MZSP 97047);(C) Berthella nebula (7 mm– GEEFAA 1307);(D)Berthella vialactea(14mm – GEEFAA 304);(E) Berthellinaignis (10 mm– GEEFAA 335);(F) Cadlina rumia(10mm – GEEFAA311); (G) Felimida clenchi (9 mm – MZSP 97070); (H) Felimare sp. (13 mm – GEEFAA 313); (I) Tyrinna evelinae (18 mm – GEEFAA 1305); (J) Diaulula greeleyi (20 mm – GEEFAA 259a); (K) Discodoris branneri (70 mm – MZSP 97063); (L) Geitodoris pusae (14 mm – GEEFAA 338); (M.1) Sclerodoris prea (33 mm – GEEFAA 1314); (M.2) Sclerodoris prea (35 mm – GEEFAA1314); (N) Taringa iemanja (25 mm – MZSP 97062);(O) Taringa telopia (18 mm – MZSP 97071).