Bursatella leachii Blainville, 1817

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 : 10

15. Bursatella leachii Blainville, 1817 ( Fig. 2O )

Material examined: Praia de Galinhos, Galinhos, 21.IX.2008, one specimen, 75 mm (body length), leg. M. Delgado ( GEEFAA 324).

Description: Body oval to elongate, wider towards the posterior end and shell absent. Living specimens measuring up to 100 mm in length. Dorsum covered by numerous long and ramified papillae (fuzzy appearance). Head with two rhinophores on the dorsal side and oral tentacles in either side of the mouth. Body color light green with some lighter brown spots. Gill on the dorsal side covered by two short parapodial flaps.

Geographic distribution: Widespread in the IndoPacific region except from the Hawaiian Islands and the Eastern Pacific ( Bazzicalupo et al., 2020); Mediterranean Sea: Spain-Balearic Islands ( Cervera et al., 2004); Western Atlantic: Aruba, Bermuda, Bonaire, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, CuraÇao, Guadeloupe, Jamaica, Mexico, Panama, Puerto Rico, Trinidad & Tobago, USA, Venezuela, Virgin Islands, Brazil (Alagoas, Ceará, Paraná, Pernambuco, Rio de Janeiro, Rio Grande do Norte – present study, Rio Grande do Sul, São Paulo) (Er. Marcus, 1955; Ev. Marcus, 1972; Rios, 2009; Padula et al., 2012; Ferreira-Jr. et al., 2015; Galvão-Filho et al., 2015; Bazzicalupo et al., 2020).

Remarks: Recent integrative study by Bazzicalupo et al. (2020) confirmed the widespread geographic distribution of B. leachii in the Atlantic Ocean, Mediterranean Sea and Indo-Pacific region.

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).