Cerberilla longibranchus (Volodchenko, 1941)

Description

A small to mid-sized aeolid known from a single described type series. Body and ceratal arrangement typical of Cerberilla Bergh, 1873: cerata densely arranged in transverse rows on the dorsum, propodial tentacles laterally extended, oral tentacles short. Volodchenko 1941 figured the type material on plate 3 fig. 5 and plate 4 fig. 5; the species is distinguished from congeners by the elongate cerata that give the species its name.

Distribution

Sea of Japan. The type locality is Sivuch'ya Bay, Peter the Great Bay, Sea of Japan; recorded from 10 m depth. The species was not re-collected in Russian waters after the original description but was reported from Japan by Baba 1976.

Etymology

The specific epithet longibranchus is a Latin compound of longus ("long") and the modern-Latin branchus (from Greek branchia, "gills/cerata"), in reference to the elongate cerata that distinguish the species.

Remarks

Originally described as Aeolis longibranchus by Volodchenko in "New species of the nudibranchiate molluscs from the Far-Eastern seas of USSR" (Issledovaniya Dalnevostochnykh Morei SSSR 1: 59, pl. 3 fig. 5, pl. 4 fig. 5, 1941; in Russian). The original type material is now lost. The species was redescribed in Kantor & Sysoev's comprehensive 2006 catalogue of Russian gastropods.

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References

• Aeolis longibranchus, Volodchenko N.I. (1941). New species of the nudibranchiate molluscs from the Far-Eastern seas of USSR. Issledovaniya Dalnevostochnykh Morei SSSR, 1: 53-68. [In Russian: Володченко Н.И. (1941). Новые виды голожаберных моллюсков из дальневосточных морей СССР. Исследования дальневосточных морей СССР, 1: 53-68]
• Cerberilla longibranchus (Volodchenko, 1941) comb. nov., Baba K. (1976). The genus Cerberilla of Japan, with the description of a new species (Nudibranchia: Eolidoidea: Aeolidiidae). The Veliger. 18(3): 272-280.
• ニッポンカスミミノウミウシ, 奥谷喬司. (2000). 日本近海産貝類図鑑. 東海大学出版会.
• Cerberilla longibranchus, Kantor Yu.I. & Sysoev A.V. (2006) Marine and brackish water Gastropoda of Russia and adjacent countries: an illustrated catalogue. Moscow: KMK Scientific Press. 372 pp. + 140 pls.