Pleurobranchaea inconspicua Bergh, 1897 (Opisthobranchia: Pleurobranchidae): Redescription and distribution of living specimens from Argentina and Colombia

MUNIAIN, C.; ARDILA, N.; CERVERA, J. L.

Bonner Zoologische Beitrage

Eigenverlag Zoologisches Forschungsmuseum Alexander Koenig

Lugar: Bonn, Germany; Año: 2006 vol. 0

0006-7172

A taxonomic study based on living specimens from Argentina and Colombia, and from housed material from the collection of the Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales “Bernardino Rivadavia” and Museo de Historia Natural Marina de Colombia-MHNMC-INVEMAR was conducted. The first study by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) of the radular, jaw elements and reproductive anatomy, paying special attention to the internal cuticular stylet of the penis, is presented. Previous descriptions of P. inconspicua and its junior synonyms, P. hedgpethi, P. hamva, and P. gela, are compared with the present results; P. bonnieae is synonymized and a checklist of the distinguishing features of relevant species within the genus Pleurobranchaea  is provided. This work aims at discussing the proposed amphiatlantism for P. inconspicua up to the present and at solving the problems of synonymies, and provides a starting point for a comparative study of specimens of the genus Pleurobranchaea from both sides of the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea, that will be complemented with molecular studies.