Philine punctata

Philine punctata (J. Adams, 1800)

Philine punctata 4mm @ Menai Strait, Wales. April 2011 by Ian Smith

Taxonomy

	Superdomain	Biota
	Kingdom	Animalia
	Phylum	Mollusca
	Class	Gastropoda
	Subclass	Heterobranchia
	Infraclass	Euthyneura
	Subterclass	Tectipleura
	Order	Cephalaspidea
	Superfamily	Philinoidea
	Family	Philinidae
	Subfamily	Philininae
	Genus	Philine
	Species	Philine punctata (J. Adams, 1800)

	Classification according to Bouchet et al. (2017) Taxonomic source: World Register of Marine Species (AphiaID: 140758).

Synonyms

Bulla punctata Adams J., 1800
Bullaea alata Forbes, 1844
Colpodaspis punctata (J. Adams, 1800)
Philine pusilla M. Sars, 1859

Description
The body is smooth, without any tentacles, and can measure up to 5mm long. Its base color is translucent with a yellowish tint, and it is almost completely covered with brown dots but from the whitish front area and a distinct transversal pale band on the back, through which the shell’s ornament could be visible, or even exposed if the epithelium is eroded. The anterior half of dorsum is protected by a cephalic shield, while the rear part of the dorsum consists of a translucent mantle completely covering an internal shell that protects internal organs. The rear part of the mantle looks like an open cilinder -forming the mantle cavity- where the gill can be seen and the internal shell is found behind a thin membrane. The foot has lateral lobes (parapodia) that are usually protecting the sides of the body. The mouth and a small part of head are visible from the under side of the body. The internal shell measures up to 2mm long and it is white, with spiral rows of separate impressed dots, and is very fragile.

Biology
It lives in the sublittoral, on silty sand and on shells and stones covered with bryozoans of the genus Bugula. It could appear on the shore at low water spring tides, among rock encrusting organisms and sediment. It’s diet is unknown. The spawn consists of cord of about 200 eggs wrapped forming a ball enclosed within a spherical, transparent, gelatinous capsule of about 1.5mm in diameter, attached to the substrate by a gelatinous stalk. Eggs are transparent with a whitish embryo that rotate slowly inside the eggcase.

Etymology

Philine. Derived from Greek “philainoi”, name of two Carthaginian brothers who fougth for their homeland and who received honors as Gods.
Punctata. From Latin “punctus”, from “pungo, pungere”, jab/poke, mark with points/pricks, prick, puncture, sting (insect).

Distribution
It is found from Southern Norway to the Mediterranean Sea, where it is cited in most Iberian shores (but the Atlantic Andalusian shores and the Levantine shores), also in Italy (Sicily) and Croatia. Not uncommon, but the live animal is easily overlooked. There are many records of dead shells found in the sand. In Catalonia it has been cited at Cadaqués and L’Escala (Girona) and Cambrils (Tarragona).

Known georeferenced records of the species: Philine punctata
Sources:
: OBIS : GROC 2010-2011 : Enric Madrenas : João Pedro Silva : Bernard Picton : GBIF.ORG	: OPK : VIMAR : Manuel Ballesteros. : M@re Nostrum : Altres fonts : Marine Regions

References for the species: Philine punctata

Galicia: Cadée (1968), Rolán (1983), Urgorri and Besteiro (1983), Troncoso et al. (1988). Portugal: Hidalgo (1917), Machado and Fonseca (1997, as P. cf. punctata). Gibraltar: Aartsen, Menkhorst and Gittenberger (1984). Andalucía (Med.): Peñas et al. (in press). Catalunya: Peñas & Giribet (2003).

Sources: Cervera et al., 2004, Ballesteros, 2007 & 2016, McDonald, 2006 and other sources.

Abundance

Western Mediterranean:
Eastern Mediterranean:
Atlantic Ocean:

Month

This chart displays the monthly observation probability for Philine punctata based on our own records.

More pictures

Bibliography

Bibliography based on the works by Steve Long, 2006. Bibliography of Opisthobranchia 1554-2000 and Gary McDonald, 2009. Bibliographia Nudibranchia, with later updates from other resources.

Further reading

Cite this article as:

Pontes, Miquel, Manuel Ballesteros, Enric Madrenas (2012-2020) "Philine punctata" in OPK-Opistobranquis, Published: 13/05/2015, Accessed: 24/09/2020 at (https://opistobranquis.info/en/Q7ok9)

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Philine punctata