Review of Baeolidia, the largest genus of Aeolidiidae (Mollusca: Nudibranchia), with the description of five new species
Author
Carmona, Leila
Author
Pola, Marta
Author
Gosliner, Terrence M.
Author
Cervera, Juan Lucas
text
Zootaxa
2014
3802
4
477
514
journal article
45651
10.11646/zootaxa.3802.4.5
71e8a84e-1a9b-4849-9a09-ec2023643364
1175-5326
249605
4095CA09-8EA4-4941-8286-32E95F0206AE
Baeolidia occidentalis
(
Bergh, 1874
)
Aeolidiella occidentalis
Bergh, 1874
: 397
, pl. VIII,
Figs. 9
–19.
Spurilla occidentalis
(
Bergh, 1874
)
:
Labbé 1930
, 623.
Type
locality.
The Antilles, not very far from
Saint Thomas
.
Type
material.
According to
Bergh (1874)
, the material was deposited in the Museum of Copenhagen. The registration number of the
holotype
of
Baeolidia occidentalis
is ZMUC-GAS 2042.
Geographical distribution.
So far, this species is only known from the Antilles (
Bergh, 1874
).
External and internal morphology.
Not completely described by
Bergh (1874)
. No specimens available for the present study.
Remarks.
Bergh (1874)
described this species,
Aeolidiella occidentalis
, based on three specimens. Since they were already preserved and in a bad state of conservation,
Bergh (1874)
did not describe the colouration of the living animal. The radular teeth, the morphology of the cerata and the oral glands described by
Bergh (1874)
seem to associate this “species” with the genus
Baeolidia
.
Although Bergh’s original description does not allow identifying this “species”,
B. occidentalis
have been reported in some contributions about
Sargassum
and its ecological aspects (e.g.
Adams 1960
;
Thiel & Gutow 2005
). However, none of these contributions provided a detailed description of this “species” or of the specimen identified as
B. occidentalis
.
The lack of any singular morphological feature in this species leads us to conclude that
Baeolidia occidentalis
should be treated as
nomen dubium
.