Pneumodermopsis spoeli Newman and Greenwood, 1988
Overview
This is an extremely small naked pelagic snail, up to 0.3 cm long, with a mainly transparent barrel-shaped body, the visceral mass is seen through the body wall. The skin has chromatophores. There is a median sucker arm with 4 suckers on hairy stalks. There are two lateral groups, each with 12 suckers. The posterior gill is absent. The posterior footlobe is long (Pneumodermopsis spoeli Juv). It is a carnivorous species that lives in the SW-Pacific Ocean.
Taxonomic Description
The body is barrel-shaped, rounded when contracted (Pneumodermopsis spoeli). The posterior gill is present but there is no lateral gill. The skin has chromatophores on head, trunk and posterior region and some sparsely on the wings. The foot is composed of a moderately long median footlobe and two lateral lobes in close contact with each other. The internal organs, including the ovotestis, do not extend into the posterior region of the body. The everted buccal wall displays in total 24 short stalked suckers in double rows (Pneumodermopsis spoeli buc). The most ventral pairs of suckers are smaller than the others. The median acetabuliferous arm bears two pairs of small lateral suckers on hairy stalks, the top sucker being absent. The everted proboscis can extend to the same length as the body. The radula formula is 2-1-2, the median tooth is bicuspoid. There are 6 broadly triangular hooks in each sac.
Body length is 2.6 mm.
Juveniles
A special description is not available.
Reproduction
This species is a protandric hermaphrodite.
Ecology
This species is carnivorous.
Distribution
This species was only recorded from warm waters off E-Australia. See the Pneumodermopsis spoeli map.
Types
Pneumodermopsis spoeli Newman and Greenwood, 1988: 277, fig 1, 2, 3
Holotype (AMC 153114)and 4 paratypes (AMC 153115, AMC 153116, AMC 153117, AMC 153118) are in Australian Museum Sydney, Australia.
Type locality: Watson's Bay, Lizard Is. 14°40'S 145°26'E, 24-XII-1984, off Casuarina Beach. Lizard Is., 25-VII-1986, between Heron and Wistari reefs 23°27'S 151°55'E, 8-X and 12-XII-1986.