Aplysia cervina (Dall & Simpson, 1901)

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 : 9

13. Aplysia cervina (Dall & Simpson, 1901) ( Fig. 2M )

Material examined: Praia de Santa Rita, Extremoz, 11.III.2009, four specimens, 30-70 mm (body length), leg. V. Padula ( MZSP 97074 ; GEEFAA 305 and 308), 04.I.2014 , one specimen, 29 mm (body length), leg. M. Delgado ( GEEFAA 322 ). Praia de Pirambúzios, Nísia Floresta , 07.IV.2011, one specimen, 30 mm (body length), leg. M. Delgado ( GEEFAA 321 ) ; 01.III.2015, one specimen, 26 mm (body length), phot. reg. M. Delgado. Praia de Pitangui, Extremoz, 27.XII.2019, one specimen, 80 mm (body length), phot. reg. M. Delgado .

Description: Elongated and bulging body, size up to 100 mm in length. Color predominantly reddish-brown, dotted with circular and opaque black spots and shapeless white spots which cover the side and the entire internal region of the parapodia. Head with black eyes and elongated, cylindrical-retractable rhinophores, a veil formed by the fusion of the cephalic tentacles. Parapodia located in the medial region, between them there is a mantle that covers the inner shell filled with the visceral mass, descending to the substrate plane, forming a small tail together with the muscular foot.

Geographic distribution: Western Atlantic: Aruba, Barbados, Bonaire, Colombia, Cuba, CuraÇao, Mexico, Puerto Rico, St. Lucia, USA, Venezuela, Brazil (Alagoas, Ceará, Pernambuco, Rio Grande do Norte – present study, São Paulo) ( MacFarland,1909;Er. Marcus,1957; Rios,1994; Rios, 2009; Padula et al., 2012; Galvão-Filho et al., 2015).

Figures

Figure 2. Heterobranch sea slugs from Rio Grande do Norte. (A) Micromelo undatus (15 mm – GEEFAA 294); (B) Haminoea antillarum (2 mm – GEEFAA 344); (C)Camachoaglaja berolina(7 mm– GEEFAA270);(D)Chelidonurahirundinina(16mm– GEEFAA1320);(E)Navanaxgemmatus (40mm– MZSP97068);(F)Ascobulla ulla (7 mm – MZSP 97049); (G) Oxynoe antillarum (25 mm – GEEFAA 352); (H) Elysia canguzua (15 mm – GEEFAA 295); (I) Elysia pawliki (25 mm – MZSP 97061); (J) Elysia subornata (14 mm – MZSP 97050); (K) Thuridilla malaquita (15 mm – phot. reg.); (L) Caliphylla mediterranea (9 mm – GEEFAA 349); (M) Aplysia cervina (70mm – MZSP 97074); (N) Aplysia dactylomela (76 mm – MZSP 97073);(O) Bursatellaleachii (75 mm – GEEFAA 324).