Peracle reticulata (d’Orbigny, 1835)

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 : 291-292

Peracle reticulata (d’Orbigny, 1835)

( Figure 5 (c))

Material examined

Cala Sa Tuna, Begur, NE Spain, 41°57 ʹ 38”N, 3°13 ʹ 52”E, 31 March 2021, 1 m depth, 2 spcs, adults, L = 4 mm; 2 April 2021, 3 m depth, 1 spc., L = 4 mm.

External morphology

Shell helicoidal, conical, with reticulated microsculpture, orange due to digestive gland seen by transparency. Wing flaps broad, extending over the length of the shell.

Ecology

This is a pelagic species living in offshore waters and its life cycle has not been well studied.

Distribution

Cosmopolitan; widely recorded in the Atlantic Ocean ( OBIS 2021). Portugal, Canary Islands, Strait of Gibraltar ( Cervera et al. 2004); the Mediterranean Sea from the Andalusian coast ( Cervera et al. 2004), Italy ( OBIS 2021), Greece (GBIF.org 2021) and Catalonia (this study).

Remarks

Easily identified by its morphology, but since it is a cosmopolitan and scarcely studied species, of which often only the shell is found, several specimens were collected for sequencing.

Family PNEUMODERMATIDAE Latreille, 1825

Genus Pneumodermopsis Keferstein, 1862

Figures

Figure 5. Photographs of live Pteropoda species: (a) Creseis virgula. (b) Hyalocylis striata. (c) Peracle reticulata. (d) Pneumodermopsis canephora. Runcinida: (e) Runcina ornata. Sacoglossa: (f) Aplysiopsis elegans. (g) Caliphylla mediterránea. (h) Cyerce graeca.