Goniobranchus tennentanus

Gaudy chromodorid
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Gastropoda
(unranked): clade Heterobranchia
clade Euthyneura
clade Nudipleura
clade Nudibranchia
Superfamily: Doridoidea
Family: Chromodorididae
Genus: Goniobranchus
Species: G. tennentanus
Binomial name
Goniobranchus tennentanus
(Kelaart, 1859)[1]
Synonyms[2]
  • Chromodoris tennentana (Kelaart, 1859)
  • Chromodoris vicina Eliot, 1904
  • Doris tennentana Kelaart, 1859 (basionym)
  • Glossodoris tennentana (Kelaart, 1859)
  • Glossodoris vicina (Eliot, 1904)

Goniobranchus tennentanus, common name gaudy chromodorid, is a species of colourful sea slug, a dorid nudibranch, a marine gastropod mollusc in the family Chromodorididae.[2][3]

Distribution

This species was described from Ceylon (Sri Lanka). It has also been reported from the following locations; East Africa, East Coast of South Africa, Tanzania and Chagos.

Description

Species up to 4 cm long, with central region orange brown, mottled with lighter and darker patches and dark purple spots surrounded by white rings. This central area is surrounded by an irregular cream band which contains bright yellow spots. The margin is purple.[4]

Similar species

This species has been confused with Goniobranchus cavae but differs in having yellow spots only within the cream band at the edge of the mantle, whilst in G. cavae these spots are all over the back.[4]

Habitat

Habitat: diverse, among shallow coral reefs.[2]

References

  1. Kelaart, E. F. 1859. On some additional species of nudibranchiate mollusks from Ceylon. Annals & Magazine of Natural History, series 3, 4(22):267-270.
  2. 1 2 3 Bouchet, P. (2015). Goniobranchus tennentanus (Kelaart, 1859). In: MolluscaBase (2015). Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species on 2015-11-14
  3. Johnson R.F. & Gosliner T.M. (2012) Traditional taxonomic groupings mask evolutionary history: A molecular phylogeny and new classification of the chromodorid nudibranchs. PLoS ONE 7(4): e33479
  4. 1 2 Rudman, W.B., 1999 (November 8) Chromodoris tennentana (Kelaart, 1859). [In] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney.

Further reading

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/8/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.