Sea slug night fever: 39 new records of elusive heterobranchs in the western Mediterranean (Mollusca: Gastropoda)
Author
Salvador, Xavier
0000-0003-3039-7566
Author
Fernández-Vilert, Robert
0000-0002-2812-4414
Author
Moles, Juan
0000-0003-4511-4055
text
Journal of Natural History
2022
2022-05-18
56
5 - 8
265
310
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00222933.2022.2040630
journal article
83506
10.1080/00222933.2022.2040630
38f6df24-838f-409a-90df-b56087e6a9bc
1464-5262
6758438
Runcina ornata
(
Quatrefages, 1844
)
(
Figure 5
(e))
Material examined
Cala d’Aiguafreda
,
Begur
(
Spain
),
41°57
ʹ
49”N
,
3°13
ʹ
41”E
,
13 October 2017
,
0.1 m
depth
, 7 spcs, adults,
L =
2–3 mm
;
21 November 2017
,
0.1 m
depth
, 1 spc., adult,
L =
2 mm
;
31 January 2018
,
0.1 m
depth
, 9 spcs, adults,
L =
2–3 mm
;
23 April 2018
,
0.1 m
depth
, 2 spcs, adults,
L =
3 mm
;
25 May 2018
,
0.1 m
depth
, 2 spcs, adults,
L =
3 mm
;
Punta del Romaní
,
L’Escala
(
Spain
),
42°6
ʹ
54”N
.
3°10
ʹ
9”E
,
10 January 2018
,
0.2 m
depth
, 4 spcs, adults,
L =
2–3 mm
;
24 April 2018
,
0.2 m
depth
, 3 spcs, adults,
L =
2–3 mm
;
7 December 2018
,
0.2 m
depth
, 7 spcs, adults,
L =
2–3 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,
L =
1–3 mm
.
External morphology
Body elongate, narrow, black or brown in colour, rear tail darker. Foot large.
Ecology
Specimens found grazing on biofouling at night over calcarean red algae or boulders, in very superficial waters.
Distribution
Atlantic Spanish coast: Canary Islands and Strait of
Gibraltar
(
Cervera et al. 2004
) and Mediterranean Spanish coast: Catalonia (this study).
Remarks
This species is rarely observed and very small. Easily distinguishable from other
Runcina
species
by its absence of spots and white marks and its uniform black colour (
Quatrefages 1844
).
Superorder
SACOGLOSSA Ihering, 1876
Family
HERMAEIDAE H. Adams and A. Adams, 1854
Genus
Aplysiopsis
Deshayes, 1853