Baeolidia ransoni Pruvot-Fol 1956
Creators: name: Carmona, Leila
name: Pola, Marta
name: Gosliner, Terrence M.
name: Cervera, Juan Lucas
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2014
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Mollusca
Gastropoda
Nudibranchia
Aeolidiidae
Baeolidia
Baeolidia ransoni

description: Baeolidia ransoni (Pruvot-Fol, 1956)
(Figs. 2 F, 6D, 7A–B)
Aeolidiopsis ransoni Pruvot-Fol, 1956: 228, Fig. 1.
Type locality. Kaukura Atoll, French Polynesia.
Type material. To our knowledge no type material exists. We designate the specimen CASIZ 0 65417 from North of Madang, Papua New Guinea, as the neotype in order to avoid confusion with similar species.
Material examined. Neotype: CASIZ 0 65417, one specimen, dissected, 3 mm in length preserved, Papua New Guinea, North coast, North of Madang, collected by Richard C. Willan, 31 January 1988. Other material: CASIZ 0 65300, one specimen, dissected, 10 mm in length preserved, Papua New Guinea, North coast, North of Madang, collected by Richard C. Willan, 31 January 1988; CASIZ 186209, one specimen, dissected, 7 mm in length preserved, Philippines, Luzon, Batangas Province, Calumpan Peninsula, Balayan Bay, collected by Terrence M. Gosliner, 28 April 2011; CASIZ 186208, one specimen, Philippines, Luzon, Batangas Province, Calumpan Peninsula, Balayan Bay, collected by Terrence M. Gosliner, 28 April 2011.
Geographical distribution. First described for Kaukura Atoll, French Polynesia (Pruvot-Fol 1956), it is also known from the Indo-Pacific (Australia, Papua New Guinea and the Philippines) (Gosliner et al. 2008), Japan (Nakano 2004; Ono 2004) and Hawaii (Pittman & Fiene 2012a).
External morphology (Fig. 2 F): Body broad, large, tapering close to posterior end of foot. Foot corners rounded. Body colour translucent with small light ochre and medium bright white spots all over. Density of spots varies. Rhinophores smooth, translucent with ochre pigment. Apex white. Oral tentacles short, slender, tapering near apices. Oral tentacles translucent with small light ochre and medium bright white spots. Cerata flattened, almost leaf-like. Cerata large, closely oppressed to the body surface rather than erect. Cerata translucent with small light ochre and medium bright white spots. Tips translucent. Cerata up to twenty-three rows. Each row contains 1–4 cerata, decreasing in size towards the foot. Anus acleioproctic, dorsally to notal brim. Gonopore located among cerata of anteriormost group on right.
Anatomy. Masticatory edge smooth (Fig. 7 A). Radular formulae 11 x 0.1.0 (CASIZ 186209, 7 mm) and 13 x 0.1.0 (CASIZ 0 65417, 3 mm). Radular teeth pectinate, short with 18–46 elongate, acutely pointed denticles from side to side, without a notch or central cusp (Fig. 7 B). Oral glands absent. Salivary glands present.
Reproductive system diaulic (Fig. 6 D). Preampullary duct widening into wide ampulla. Postampullary duct dividing into oviduct and vas deferens. Vas deferens elongate, moderately thin, penetrating into wider proximal portion of penial sac, with unarmed penial papilla. Receptaculum seminis rounded, short stalk connecting to short oviduct, before latter forms female glands. Vagina ventral to penis.
Remarks. The other two Palythoa feeders, Baeolidia harrietae (Rudman, 1982) and B. palythoae Gosliner, 1985, were transferred and ascribed to Baeolidia respectively by Gosliner (1985). However, Aeolidiopsis ransoni was retained as the sole species of Aeolidiopsis because of its acleioproctic anus dorsal to the notal brim (Pruvot- Fol 1956; Gosliner 1985; Miller 2001). Carmona et al. (2013) showed that, from a molecular point of view, the position of the anus and the rhinophoral ornamentation are not significant phylogenetically in Baeolidia. Hence, Aeolidiopsis ransoni was transferred to Baeolidia.
Only B. harrietae and B. palythoae have some resemblance with B. ransoni in their colouration, the reticulate pattern of the digestive gland and the cerata lying out the body. However, the smooth rhinophores of the latter species distinguish B. ransoni from B. harrietae and B. palythoae. The teeth of B. ransoni are a diagnostic character for this species (Fig. 7 B). Teeth of B. ransoni lack a central cusp or central notch, are quite arched, pectinate, and have elongate and acutely pointed denticles from side to side. So far, this radular morphology has not been found in any other Baeolidia species.
This species was included in the molecular study by Carmona et al. (2013) (Fig. 1).
description: Published as part of Carmona, Leila, Pola, Marta, Gosliner, Terrence M. & Cervera, Juan Lucas, 2014, Review of Baeolidia, the largest genus of Aeolidiidae (Mollusca: Nudibranchia), with the description of five new species, pp. 477-514 in Zootaxa 3802 (4) on pages 487-489, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.3802.4.5, http://zenodo.org/record/249605