Pneumodermopsis (Pneumodermopsis) canephora Pruvot-Fol, 1924a
Overview
This is a relatively large, naked pelagic snail up to 1.2 cm long, with a mainly transparent body and visceral mass is seen through the body wall. The skin has dark chromatophores. There is a median sucker arm with an extremely large top sucker and two lateral arms with one sucker each. A posterior gill is absent. The posterior footlobe is long. It is a rather quick swimmer that hunts shelled pteropods as food. It lives in the Atlantic and Mediterranean in shallow and deep water layers (Pneumodermopsis canephora).
Taxonomic Description
The integument is colourless, transparent with numerous glands(Pneumodermopsis canephora). The visceral mass shows through the integument and reaches a little below the middle of the body. Posterior gill absent. Lateral gill is present and extremely long. Two ciliated bands encircle the body and are preserved in adult animals, especially the third band which seems to persist throughout the whole life. A dorsal glandular field is clearly present. The two lateral arms each have only one sucker on a thick cylindrical stalk. The median arm with five suckers of which the four inferior ones are reduced, has an enormously developed median top sucker. The anterior tentacles are extremely well developed. The lateral and especially the posterior footlobe are very well developed, a median tubercle is found. The radula is well developed, while jaws and hook sacs are less developed. The radula formula is 5-1-5 (3-1-3 or 4-1-4) with 20 transverse rows. Median plate bicuspoid (Pneumodermopsis canephora radula, Pneumodermopsis canephora radula, Pneumodermopsis canephora radula SEM). The slender and short hooks in each sac are 30 up to 60 in number. Clear cells are found under the hook sacs.
The maximum body length is 12 mm.
Morphology and Structure
The chromosome number is 32 (2N) (Thiriot-Quievreux, 1988).
Juveniles
A special description is not available.
Reproduction
This species is a protandric hermaphrodite.
Ecology
This species is a carnivore.
Distribution
This species is one of the most typical representatives of the faunal elements of the Atlanto-Mediterranean centre. It occurs in the W Mediterranean and penetrates into the Atlantic Ocean, up to the south coast of England and into the Gulf of Guinea. it is also found east off Australia, see the Pneumodermopsis canephora map.
Types
Pneumodermopsis canephora Pruvot-Fol, 1924: 370, figs. 18-26, pl. 15, figs. 18-20, pl. 16, figs. 1-10.
Holotype: MOM (alcohol collection) u.s.
Type locality: 36°10' N 9°20'W. Col. CPAE stat. 2277.