Hexabranchus punctatus Bergh (1905)

Tibiriçá, Yara, Pola, Marta, Pittman, Cory, Gosliner, Terrence M., Malaquias, Manuel A. & Cervera, Juan Lucas, 2023, A Spanish dancer? No! A troupe of dancers: a review of the family Hexabranchidae Bergh, 1891 (Gastropoda, Heterobranchia, Nudibranchia), Organisms Diversity & Evolution (New York, N. Y.) 23 (4), pp. 697-742 : 734

Hexabranchus punctatus Bergh (1905)

Description notes Description based on preserved specimen; external and oral mass morphology provided; only a tooth illustrated: size 20 mm; mantle narrower than usual, not undulating; six gill branches; rhinophores bent strongly backwards; armed jaws; radular formulae 38 × 37.0.37.

Own conclusion/opinion on its taxonomic status Bergh (1905) pointed out that the general appearance was “as usual” but that the background color was yellowish with scattered black spots on the notum and underneath the mantle. He differentiated it from other species mainly because of a non-undulating and narrower posterior part of the body. Eliot (1908) thought the description was lacking and suggested it might be the same as H. adamsii Eliot, 1905 . By the size, location, and description, we believe that H. adamsii and H. punctatus are, respectively, early juvenile and midlelate juvenile forms of H. lacer .