Tethys pulmonica var. tryoniana Pilsbry, 1895

Cunha, Carlo M. & Rosenberg, Gary, 2019, Type specimens of Aplysiida (Gastropoda, Heterobranchia) in the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, with taxonomic remarks, Zoosystematics and Evolution 95 (2), pp. 361-372 : 361

Tethys pulmonica var. tryoniana Pilsbry, 1895 Figure 5 H–L

Tethys pulmonica var. tryoniana Pilsbry, 1895: 96-97; 1896b, pl. 57, figs 24-27.

Type locality.

Upolu, Samoa Island.

Type material.

Syntype, ANSP A7037 (Pilsbry, 1896b: pl. 57, fig. 27), 1 specimen (ca122 mm long preserved), ANSP 66306 (Pilsbry, 1896b: pl. 57, figs 24-26), 1 shell (fragmented, ca 58 mm long; ex G. W. Tryon from Dr Gräffe, Museum Godeffroy).

Remarks.

In 1895 Pilsbry cited plate 57, figures 54-57, but when the plate was published the next year, the captions showed figures 24-27, the latter being correct. The specimen was purchased by G. W. Tryon from the Godeffroy Museum Catalogue. Pilsbry cited " Aplysia sp.? Museum Godeffroy, Catalog IV, p. 105, No. 1107a", but apparently examined only one specimen. Pilsbry did not dissect the specimen but removed the shell.

Current systematic position.

According to Pilsbry (1895), A. pulmonica and Tethys pulmonica var. tryoniana (both from Samoa) are similar, differing just in that A. pulmonica lacks black maculations and has a more extensive posterior junction of the parapodia. We follow Eales (1960), keeping Tethys pulmonica var. tryoniana as a synonym of A. pulmonica until more material is available.

According to a recent study by Alexander and Valdes (2013), suggesting that "the ring doesn’t mean a thing", A. pulmonica Pease, 1860 is a synonym of A. argus Rüppell & Leuckart, 1830. The photographs of Hawaiian specimens identified as A. dactylomela and A. pulmonica in their paper (Alexander and Valdes 2013: fig. 2) suggest that the material of A. pulmonica has rings in the color pattern, although it is supposed to lack them. Photographs of live specimens of the main material used in that publication ( A. dactylomela , CPIC 00297 and A. pulmonica , CPIC 00313) confirm that both possess black rings in the body color. The black rings are more evident in the material they identified as A. dactylomela (paler) than in the ones they identified as A. pulmonica (darker).

Their Hawaiian material does belong to a single species, as they concluded based on their molecular data. The dark morph is consistent with the description of A. grandis Pease, 1860 (type locality Hawaii), which was not cited by the authors, in having a purplish-brown color, pale along the flanks, everywhere above densely crowded with minute white dots, and foot projecting posteriorly, where it is rounded. The dark morph is not consistent with the original description and illustration of A. pulmonica , which differs in being coarsely reticulated with black veins, lacking white dots, having oral tentacles short, and the posterior junction of the parapodia producing a sac-like structure. Bebbington (1977) included A. grandis in the synonymy of A. dactylomela , and not of A. pulmonica . In synonymizing A. pulmonica with A. argus , Alexander and Valdes (2013) ignored that most previous authors regarded A. dactylomela and A. pulmonica in the Indo-Pacific as distinct species. We regard their use of A. pulmonica for their Hawaiian material as a misidentification, and resume use of A. pulmonica as a valid species.