Placida viridis ( Trinchese, 1874 )

Salvador, Xavier, Fernández-Vilert, Robert & Moles, Juan, 2022, Sea slug night fever: 39 new records of elusive heterobranchs in the western Mediterranean (Mollusca: Gastropoda), Journal of Natural History 56 (5 - 8), pp. 265-310 : 300-301

Placida viridis ( Trinchese, 1874)

( Figure 6 (f))

Material examined

Cala Ventosa , Sant Feliu de Guíxols ( Spain), 41°47 ʹ 5”N, 3°2 ʹ 52”E, 13 September 2017, 0.1 m depth, 5 spcs, adults and egg masses, L = 7–20 mm; Cala Sa Tuna, 41°57 ʹ 38”N, 3°13 ʹ 52”E, 8 March 2018, 0.1 m depth, 6 spcs, juveniles and adults, L = 2–15 mm; Punta d’en Bosch, Sant Feliu de Guíxols ( Spain), 41°45 ʹ 54”N, 3°0 ʹ 11”E, 17 April 2018, 0.1 m depth, 5 spcs, adults and egg masses, L = 12–20 mm .

External morphology

Body elongate, narrow, background colour white and semi-transparent with digestive branches of dark green. Cerata long, smooth; background colour dark green, with white punctuation, apex white. Rhinophores long, translucent white with green branches and white punctuation on tips.

Ecology

Specimens found on the green alga Bryopsis mucosa (J.V. Lamouroux, 1809) laying cylindrical and white egg masses. Specimens in this study were found within a few centimetres’ depth feeding on B. mucosa , which is commonly found at subtidal depths.

Distribution

Israel ( Monselise and Mienis 1977); Greece and Black Sea ( OBIS 2021); Italy (Ballesteros et al. 2012–2021); Spain: Catalonia ( Cervera et al. 2004; this study); France (this study).

Remarks

See the Remarks section on P. tardyi above.

Family PLAKOBRANCHIDAE Gray, 1840

Genus Elysia Risso, 1818

Figures

Figure 6. Photographs of live Sacoglossa species: (a) Hermaea bifida and close-up on its egg mass at the base of an alga. (b) Hermaea cantabra. (c) Hermaea paucicirra. (d) Limapontia capitata on Ulva lactuca. (e) Placida tardyi. (f) Placida viridis. (g) Elysia flava. Siphonariidae: (h) Williamia gussoni.