New records of Biuve fulvipunctata (Baba, 1938) (Gastropoda Cephalaspidea) and Taringa tritorquis Ortea, Perez et Llera, 1982 (Gastropoda Nudibranchia) in the Ionian coasts of Sicily, Mediterranean Sea

Abstract

In the present paper, two sea slug species, Biuve fulvipunctata (Baba, 1938) (Gastropoda Cephalaspidea) and Taringa tritorquis Ortea, Perez & Llera, 1982 (Gastropoda Nudibranchia), are reported for the second time in the Ionian coasts of Sicily (Italy). Biuve fulvipunctata is an Indo-West Pacific cefalaspidean, previously reported for Italian territorial waters only in Faro Lake (Messina, Sicily). Taringa tritorquis is a species originally described for Canary Islands and hitherto found in Sicily and probably in Madeira. Both species are easily identifiable for their characteristic external morphology. Indeed, B. fulvipunctata shows a W-shaped pattern of white pigment on the head, while T. tritorquis presents rhinophore and gill sheaths with spiculous tubercles crown-shaped and an orange-yellowish body coloring. Since B. fulvipuctata has been previously reported in Faro Lake, probably, the specimen reported in this note could have been taken in veliger stage through the Strait of Messina currents. Otherwise, the veliger has been carried attached to the keel of boats. Instead, it is still unclear if T. tritorquis could be a native or non-indigenous species of the Mediterranean Sea. Indeed, due to its small size and its sciaphilous behavior, it might be a rare species, overlooked until now.

A new perspective on the distribution of Camachoaglaja africana (Pruvot-Fol, 1953) and Biuve fulvipunctata (Baba, 1938) (Gastropoda, Cephalaspidea) in the Mediterranean and the NE Atlantic

“…Biuve fulvipunctata was originally described from Kii Peninsula, Japan (Baba 1938), and is currently widespread in the Indo-Pacific Ocean (Gosliner 1987, Gosliner et al 2015. The sequence of Mediterranean findings of B. fulvipunctata was first reconstructed and updated by Malaquias et al (2016b) and more recently by Lombardo and Marletta (2020b). The first and to date only one finding in the Adriatic Sea took place in 2018 (Petani and Crocetta 2019).…”