Thecacera Fleming, 1828

Vallès, Yvonne, Valdés, Ángel & Ortea, Jesús, 2000, On the phanerobranch dorids of Angola (Mollusca, Nudibranchia): a crossroads of temperate and tropical species, Zoosystema 22 (1), pp. 15-31 : 26

publication ID

https://doi.org/ 10.5281/zenodo.5398985

persistent identifier

https://treatment.plazi.org/id/096B7348-DD61-FF89-FCC0-FE82FC22F956

treatment provided by

Marcus

scientific name

Thecacera Fleming, 1828
status

 

Genus Thecacera Fleming, 1828 View in CoL

TYPE SPECIES. — Doris pennigera Montagu, 1815

Thecacera pennigera (Montagu, 1815) ( Figs 7C View FIG ; 9 View FIG )

Doris pennigera Montagu, 1815: 17 , pl. 4, fig. 5.

Thecacera maculata Eliot, 1905: 241-243 View in CoL .

Thecacera lamellata Barnard, 1933: 294-295 View in CoL , fig. 1.

MATERIAL EXAMINED. — Namibe Province. Praia Amelia, 15°01’S, 12°08’E, 3.VIII.1985, 1 specimen 6 mm preserved length.

DISTRIBUTION. — Thecacera pennigera has been collected from Britain, the Netherlands, France, Sicily, South Africa, Pakistan, Japan, Australia, New Zealand and Brazil (see Willan 1976). Our data represents the first report of this species in Angola.

DESCRIPTION

The background colour is white in the living animal. The whole body is covered by orange, yellow and black spots ( Fig. 9 View FIG ). The velum has two lateral prolongations. The rhinophores, the rhinophoral sheath, the gill (with five bipinnate branchial leaves) and the two extrabranchial processes (very long) are covered with orange, yellow and black spots as well.

The radular formula is 8 × (2.2.0.2.2). The innermost lateral tooth is smaller than the second. Both of them have a peaked hook shape ( Fig. 7C View FIG ). The base of the inner lateral is larger than the peak. The two outer lateral teeth are smaller than the inner laterals. The outermost lateral is smaller than the innermost. Both outer laterals are rectangular in shape.

REMARKS

As in our specimen, Thompson & Brown (1984) described specimens of Thecacera pennigera (Montagu, 1815) as being white with numerous irregular-shaped orange areas and black and yellow spots. However, the rhinophores described by Thompson and Brown had a yellow upper part with black speckling, while the whole rhinophore of our specimen is white with black, yellow and orange speckling. The branchial leaves are also similar, but our specimen has not only black and orange, but also yellow spots.

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Mollusca

Class

Gastropoda

Order

Nudibranchia

Family

Polyceridae

Loc

Thecacera Fleming, 1828

Vallès, Yvonne, Valdés, Ángel & Ortea, Jesús 2000
2000
Loc

Thecacera lamellata

Barnard 1933: 294 - 295
1933
Loc

Thecacera maculata

Eliot 1905: 241 - 243
1905
Loc

Doris pennigera

Montagu 1815: 17
1815
Darwin Core Archive (for parent article) View in SIBiLS Plain XML RDF