Polycera capensis Quoy & Gaimard, 1824

Description

A mid-sized polycerid reaching about 40 mm in length. Body whitish with conspicuous black markings: three black longitudinal lines (one mid-dorsal, two lateral) and a black-bordered tail. The anterior cephalic margin bears six large yellow finger-like processes. Rhinophores black, with six smaller yellow papillae at their bases. Among the dorsal gill fringe is a single bright yellow plume. Posterior end forms an elongate tail bordered above by a yellow line. Foot fringed; genital opening on the right anterior side. Quoy & Gaimard described their original specimens as about 1.5 French inches long, taken on detached drift fronds of the giant kelp Fucus buccinalis (now Ecklonia buccinalis) carried offshore by currents.

Distribution

Native to South Africa (Cape of Good Hope and adjacent waters); introduced to South Australia, presumably as a fouling organism on shipping. The type locality is the Cape of Good Hope, on drift kelp.

Etymology

The specific epithet capensis ("of the Cape") refers to the Cape of Good Hope, the type-locality region.

Remarks

Originally described by Quoy & Gaimard in their Zoologie for the Voyage autour du Monde sur les corvettes l'Uranie et la Physicienne (Pillet Aîné, Paris, 1824, p.417, pl. 66 fig. 4). The 1824 cover date applies to this fascicle, on the basis of which WoRMS attributes authorship to Quoy & Gaimard, 1824.

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References

• Polycera capensis, Quoy J.R.C. & Gaimard J.P. (1824). Zoologie. In: Freycinet L. de (ed.). Voyage autour du Monde, entrepris par Ordre du Roi, sous le ministère de S. Exc. M. le Vicomte du Bouchage, exécuté sur les corvettes de S.M. l'Uranie et la Physicienne, pendant les années 1817, 1818, 1819 et 1820. Pillet Aîné, Paris. 712 pp., Atlas 96 pls.