Kaloplocamus ramosus
Creators: name: Vallès, Yvonne
name: Valdés, Ángel
name: Ortea, Jesús
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2000
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Mollusca
Gastropoda
Nudibranchia
Polyceridae
Kaloplocamus
Kaloplocamus ramosus

description: Kaloplocamus ramosus (Cantraine, 1835)
(Figs 3 A-C; 10)
Doris ramosa Cantraine, 1835: 383.
Kaloplocamus filosus Cattaneo-Vietti & Sordi, 1988: 50-55, figs 1-12.
MATERIAL EXAMINED. — Luanda Province. Ilha de Luanda, 08°48’S, 13°15’E, date unknown, 1 specimen 17 mm preserved length. — Corimba, 08°49’S, 13°13’E, IV.1982, 5 specimens 9-14 mm preserved length.
DISTRIBUTION. — This species has been reported from South Africa, Mediterranean Sea, Australia and Japan (Gosliner 1987a). This is the first report of this species in Angola.
DESCRIPTION
The background body colour is pale orange in the living animal, with bright yellow spots scattered over the entire body. The foot is pale yellow. The dorsum has eight tripinnate bright red lateral papillae on each side, with pale orange tips on the branchial leaves (Fig. 10A). The rhinophores are uniformly orange, with a paler apex. The whole rhinophore is covered with bright yellow dots. There are five bipinnate branchial leaves that are orange with orange dots on the rachis.
The radular formula is 28 × (14.3.2.3.14) in an 11 mm specimen. The radula has a broad rachidian plate, which is traversed by a strong furrow and divided into several elongate tuberculate plates (Fig. 3A). The three inner lateral teeth are hook-shaped having a secondary cusp, and are similar in length (Fig. 3B). The 15 outer lateral teeth are rectangular and decrease in size towards the margin of the radula (Fig. 3C).
The reproductive system (Fig. 10B, C) has a prostate that is not differentiated from the deferent duct. There is a laminar mucus gland, which is three times larger than the albumen gland. The vagina is half as long as the deferent duct, but is almost the same width. The ampulla is twice as wide as the deferent duct and one half its length. The gametolytic gland is nine times larger than the seminal receptacle. They are joined together by a long thin and almost straight duct.
REMARKS
Five species of the genus Kaloplocamus Bergh, 1892, have been described in the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea: Kaloplocamus ramosus (Cantraine, 1835), Kaloplocamus atlanticus (Bergh, 1892), Kaloplocamus aureus Odhner, 1932, Kaloplocamus gulo (Marcus, 1979) and Kaloplocamus filosus Cattaneo-Vietti & Sordi, 1988.
Kaloplocamus atlanticus from the Azores is easily differentiated from K. ramosus and the other species of the genus in having a dorsal keel (Bergh 1892) on the foot, which is typical of the genus Plocamopherus Leuckart, 1828, and three branchial leaves, whereas K. ramosus lacks the dorsal keel and has five branchial leaves. Following Bergh (1892), the radular formula for an 11 mm preserved long K. atlanticus is 29 × (19- 20.9.0.9.19-20) whereas it is 28× (14.3.2.3.14) in a same size specimen of K. ramosus.
Kaloplocamus gulo has been described from Brazil based on a single specimen 11 mm long with a radular formula 21 × (17-18.3.0.3.17-18), which alive was light brown and ver y transparent (Marcus 1979). This species differs from K. ramosus in apparently lacking red pigmentation on the lateral papillae, having small bosses and tiny pointed papillae on the sides, and 17-18 outer lateral radular teeth on 21 rows, instead of 14 outer lateral teeth on 28 rows for a same size specimen of K. ramosus.
Kaloplocamus filosus was described as a different species from K. ramosus based on few morphological differences, such as the presence of small tubercles and longer tape-shaped lateral appendages (Cattaneo-Vietti & Sordi 1988). However, since the radula, and other external characteristics (arborescent lateral appendages, reduced mantle margin and pigmentation) of K. filosus are identical to those of K. ramosus, we suggest that both species should be regarded as synonyms.
The external appearance and radular morphology of our specimens from Angola are identical to those of K. ramosus described by Cattaneo-Vietti & Sordi (1988) from the Mediterranean Sea, except for the red pigmentation, which is present only in the lateral appendages of the specimens from Angola.
description: Published as part of Vallès, Yvonne, Valdés, Ángel & Ortea, Jesús, 2000, On the phanerobranch dorids of Angola (Mollusca, Nudibranchia): a crossroads of temperate and tropical species, pp. 15-31 in Zoosystema 22 (1) on pages 27-28, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.5398985