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Tenellia luciae
Living holotype, showing distinct yellow and blue banding on the cerata, and a portion of its egg mass. Collected in Crawl Cay, Bocas del Toro, Panama, 30 July 2015.
Tenellia luciae (Valdés, Medrano & Bhave, 2016)
This species was originally named in the genus Cuthona Alder & Hancock. However, the systematics of the Tergipedidae were revised by Cella et al. (2016), and only the type species, Cuthona nana, remains in that genus. The other species previously cited as Cuthona are now considered to be members of the genus Tenellia.
The body is narrow and elongate, and living animals reach up to 12 mm in length. The
elongate, cylindrical cerata are arranged in 13-14 vertical rows, with4-5 cerata in each row. The
cerata are opaque yellow with blue bands. Oral tentacles and rhinophores are smooth and equal
in length. The oral tentacles are opaque yellow with dark orange tips. The rhinophores are
opaque gray with a white mid-region and orange apices. Irregular yellow spots, especially dense
on the pericardium, are sprinkled over the gray
dorsum .
“Radular formula 68 x 0.1.0 in 12 mm preserved length paratype (LACM 3335). Radular
teeth with 9-10 large, sharp denticles, which decrease in size toward lateral side of teeth and
again toward center
Figure 5). Denticles
separated by gaps, which become wider towards center of teeth. Gaps filled with tiny, sharp
denticles, which vary in number depending on width of gap and are absent from most lateral
gaps. Cusp about same length, or shorter, than central denticles, and only distinguishable from
denticles because it emerges from slightly higher plane. Jaws elongate (Figure 6) with smooth
masticatory borders (Figures 7-8)” (Valdés et al., 2016: 75). The species has been reported from Florida (Valdés et al., 2006: 264-265) and possibly
Brazil (Marcus, 1955), misidentified as the Mediterranean species Cuthona caerulea (Montagu,
1804). Type locality is Crawl Cay, Bocas del Toro, Panama. This flamboyant aeolid, with coloration reminiscent of the flag of Ukraine, was named in
honor of Lucía Valdés, the beautiful daughter of Ángel Valdés. I thank Ángel for the use of his
photographs. References Cella, Kristen, Leila Carmona, Irina Ekimova, Anton Chichvarkhin Dimitry Schepetov &
Terrence M. Gosliner. 2016. A radical solution: the phylogeny of the nudibranch family
Fionidae. PLoS ONE 11(12): e0167800. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0167800 Marcus, Er. 1955. Opisthobranchia from Brazil. Boletim da Faculdade de Filosofia, Ciências e
Letras da Universidade de São Paulo (Zoologia). 20: 89-261. Valdés, Ángel, Jeff Hamann, David W. Behrens & Anne DuPont. 2006. Caribbean Sea Slugs.
A Guide to te Opisthobranch Mollusks from the Tropical Northwestern Atlantic. Sea
Challengers Natural History Books, Etc., Gig Harbor, Washington. Vii + 289 pp. Valdés, Ángel, Sabrina Medrano & Vishal Bahve. 2016. A new species of Cuthona Alder &
Hancock, 1855 (Gastropoda: Heterobranchia: Nudibranchia: Tergipedidae) from the
Caribbean Sea. The Nautilus 130(2): 72-78.
Stephanie, Ángel, and Lucía Valdés on the Island of Thira, Greece, 8 July 2024.
Send Angel mail at aavaldes@cpp.edu
Send Hans mail at hansmarvida@sbcglobal.net
