Pericelis cata Marcus & Marcus, 1968

Cuadrado, Daniel, Hernández-Gonzalez, Alejandro, Noreña, Carolina & Simões, Nuno, 2024, Polyclads (Platyhelminthes) in the southern Gulf of Mexico: unveiling biodiversity and descriptions of two new species, ZooKeys 1221, pp. 103-144 : 103-144

Pericelis cata Marcus & Marcus, 1968

Fig. 3

Material examined.

Campeche coast, Mexico • 1; Cayos sumergidos del Oeste; 20.9 ° N, 92.2 ° W; 0 m; 10 Sep. 2017; A. Gutiérrez leg.; CRPPY - 0011 • 1; Cayos sumergidos del Oeste; 20.9 ° N, 92.2 ° W; 13 m; 14 Sep. 2017; A. Gutiérrez leg.; CRPPY - 0020 • 1; Cayos sumergidos del Oeste; 21.0 ° N, 92.3 ° W; 10 m; 9 Sep. 2017; F. Márquez leg.; CRPPY - 0022 • 2; Cayos sumergidos del Oeste; 20.4 ° N, 92.2 ° W; 10.8 m; 14 Sep. 2017; A. Gutiérrez leg.; CRPPY - 0024 • 1; Cayos sumergidos del Oeste; 20.5 ° N, 92.2 ° W; 26 m; 13 Sep. 2017; X. Vital leg.; CRPPY - 0025; Quintana Roo coast, Mexico • 1; Mahahual; 18.6 ° N, 87.7 ° W; 13.4 m; 18 Mar. 2018; A. Hernández leg.; CRPPY - 0040; Campeche coast, Mexico • 1; Cayo Arcas; 20.2 ° N, 92.0 ° W; 5 m; 19 Apr. 2018; A. Hernández leg.; CRPPY - 0046 • 1; Cayo Arcas; 20.2 ° N, 92.0 ° W; 4.7 m; 19 Apr. 2018; A. Hernández leg.; CRPPY - 0051 • 1; Cayo Arcas; 20.2 ° N, 92.0 ° W; 6.3 m; 22 Apr. 2018; A. Hernández leg.; CRPPY - 0065 • 1; Cayo Arcas; 20.2 ° N, 92.0 ° W; 3.2 m; 24 Apr. 2018; A. Hernández leg.; CRPPY - 0078 • 1; Cayo Arcas; 20.2 ° N, 92.0 ° W; 7.7 m; 25 Apr. 2018; A. Hernández leg.; CRPPY - 0083 .

Distribution.

This species was previously recorded in Curaçao ( Marcus and Marcus 1968); the Caribbean coast of Colombia ( Quiroga et al. 2004 a, 2004 b); Cabo Frío, Salvador, and Alagoas, Brazil ( Queiroz et al. 2013; Bahia et al. 2014, 2015; Bahia and Schrödl 2018); Canary Islands, Spain ( Cuadrado et al. 2017). This is a new record for the coasts of Campeche (Gulf of Mexico), and Quintana Roo (Mexican Caribbean). New record for the Gulf of Mexico.

Description.

Body oval with multiple marginal folds, 4 cm in length and 2.5 cm in width. Dorsally, pattern of dark pigmentation is interrupted by spots where the white parenchyma is observed. Towards the margin, the white patches become smaller, and the space between them decreases, with scattered black dots. The tentacles are subtle marginal folds, with a clear separation between them, characteristic of the genus Pericelis (Fig. 3 A, B ). Marginal eyes are arranged irregularly around the entire body margin (Fig. 3 A, B ). Dorsally, the tentacular and cerebral eyes are arranged in two elongated clusters (Fig. 3 B ).

Remarks.

Pericelis cata morphology found in the Gulf of Mexico corresponds to the original description by Marcus and Marcus (1968), characterised by the position of the pseudotentacles, the elongated cerebral eye clusters, and the colour pattern: white and black spots on a brown background (Fig. 3 A-D ). The pigmentation of the specimens sampled in the Gulf of Mexico is different from that described in the original description of P. cata . The Mexican species displays a basal colour of white, with brown spots and freckles (as seen in Fig. 3 E ).

Figures

Figure 3. Pericelis cata A dorsal view B frontal region, cerebral eyes and pseudotentacles C location of the sucker, male and female gonopores D ventral view E P. cata in situ.