Chelidonura berolina
Marcus & Marcus, 1970

Order: CEPHALASPIDEA
Superfamily: PHILINOIDEA
Family: Aglajidae

DISTRIBUTION

Caribbean

PHOTO

Found over a range of 100 miles in the Exumas chain of islands, Southern Bahamas. [January - March, 2003]. Depth: 2 - 10 feet. length: 1/8 inch to about 1 inch long. Photos: Anne Dupont.

NOTE added 15 March 2004: C. berolina = C. africana. see notes below.

Small species, seldom longer than 10mm, found crawling on coral sand often in association with other aglajids. Quite variable in colour pattern but background colour is dark brown to black, with the dorsal surface covered in irregularly sized and shaped whitish patches. There are usually three large white bands, one aross the front of the head, one at the posterior end of the head shield and the thirds at the posterior end of the posterior shield. There is usually a broken or entire orange or yellow line along the edge of the parapodia, and a transverse band of the same colour across the head. The caudal lobes [or 'tails'] at the posterior end of the body are characteristically shaped. The left one is rounded with a slender tapering point, while the right one is a rounded lobe. This species has previously been misidentifed as Aglaja hummelincki. See my discussion on this in Anne Dupont's message.

Note added 6 Jan 2004: As I discuss in a separate message the colour range demonstrated in Anne Dupont's messages make me pretty sure that this species is identical with the eastern Atlantic species C. africana.
Note added 15 March 2004: Messages concerning C. berolina are moved to C. africana Page. See message #12457.

References:
• Marcus, Er. & Marcus, Ev. (1970) Opisthobranchs from Curacao and faunistically related regions. Uitqaven van der Natuurwetenschappelijke Studiekring voor Suriname en de Nederlandse Antillen, 59: 1-129.
• Ortea, J. & Espinosa, J. (1998) Two new species of marine Mollusks (Mollusa: Gastropoda) colleted in the subarchipelagoes Jardines del Rey and jardines de la Reina, desribed in honor of the King and Queen of Spain for their first visit to Cuba. Avicennia, 8/9: 1-6.
• Redfern. C., 2001. Bahamian Seashells: a Thousand Species from Abaco, Bahamas.
• Thompson, T.E. (1977) Jamaican opisthobranch molluscs I. Journal of Molluscan Studies, 43(2): 93-139, pls.1-3.

Authorship details
Rudman, W.B., 2003 (April 13) Chelidonura berolina Marcus & Marcus, 1970. [In] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/factsheet/chelbero