Aplysia peasei, (PILSBRY, 1895)

Golestani, Haleh, Crocetta, Fabio, Padula, Vinicius, Camacho-García, Yolanda, Langeneck, Joachim, Poursanidis, Dimitris, Pola, Marta, Yokeş, M. Baki, Cervera, Juan Lucas, Jung, Dae-Wui, Gosliner, Terrence M., Araya, Juan Francisco, Hooker, Yuri, Schrödl, Michael & Valdés, Ángel, 2019, The little Aplysia coming of age: from one species to a complex of species complexes in Aplysia parvula (Mollusca: Gastropoda: Heterobranchia), Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 187, pp. 279-330 : 321

APLYSIA PEASEI ( PILSBRY, 1895)

( FIG. 4C–D)

Syphonota punctata Pease, 1868: 77–78 , pl. 9, fig. 2 (non Aplysia punctata Cuvier, 1804 ). Tethys peasei Pilsbry, 1895 –96 (1895): 95, pl. 25, fig. 2 (replacement name for Syphonota punctata Pease, 1868 ). Type locality: ‘Huaheine’ (= Huahine), Society Islands, French Polynesia. Syntype: Dry shell 13-mm long (MCZM 297868).

Remarks

Pease (1868) described Syphonota punctata from Huahine, Society Islands, based on a specimen described as: ‘Pale fawn, mottled with darker, and covered with minute crowded white and very light purple dots; under portion of the body, edges of the mantle and labial tentacles margined with dark slate color.’ Pease (1868) did not provide any internal anatomical details. Pilsbry (1895 –96) noted that S. punctata is a secondary homonym of Aplysia punctata Cuvier, 1804 and proposed the replacement name Tethys peasei Pilsbry, 1895 . Eales (1960) regarded T. peasei as a synonym of A. parvula .

The original description of Syphonota punctata is brief but includes important details of the external morphology and colour, as well as an illustration of the live animal ( Pease 1868: pl. 9, fig. 2). This pattern of coloration is inconsistent with that of other species of A. parvula s.l. described here, with the exception of the presence of a dark margin of the parapodia. Also, the parapodia of S. punctata are represented as wide and straight, not forming the loops typically found in A. parvula s.l. The presence of numerous, small black rings represented in the illustration of S. punctata ( Pease 1868: pl. 9, fig. 2) resemble the pattern of Aplysia oculifera A. Adams & Reeve, 1850 (see: Gosliner et al., 2015), but differs by having dark spots on the rhinophores. We have examined the shell of a syntype of S. punctata (MCZM 297868) ( Fig. 4C–D), which resembles the characteristics of other species of A. parvula s.l. suggesting this name could be a synonym of one of the species described herein. However, because of the inconsistencies described above, we are unable to confidently identify this species with any members of A. parvula s.l. and, therefore, we regard it as a taxon inquirendum.