Durvilledoris lemniscata
(Quoy & Gaimard, 1832)

Order: NUDIBRANCHIA
Suborder: DORIDINA
Superfamily: EUDORIDOIDEA
Family: Chromodorididae

DISTRIBUTION

Tropical Indo-West Pacific

PHOTO

UPPER: Phuket,Thailand,18 Feb 1982, 6mm long preserved. PHOTO: H. Just.
LOWER: Suakin, Sudan, Red Sea, April 1980. 9mm long alive PHOTO: C. Todd.

The mantle is purple with a broad creamy yellow border. In the midline is a broad white band running from between the rhinophores back to the gill pocket which is also white. On each side of this median white band is a thin wine red line and then a yellowish band and then another thin red line, which run from just behind the rhinophores back to the gills. The rhinophore stalk is transparent colourless, the basal half of the rhinophore club is red or orange and the upper half shades of purple. The gills are similarly coloured with a basal white band, then orange-red then purple. The foot is a uniform purple. in a specimen from the Red Sea the colour pattern is less intense but the same pattern applies. Grows to about 10mm in length.

See the Noumea purpurea Colour Group Page to compare this species with others of similar colour.

References:
• Quoy, J.R. & Gaimard, J.P. (1832). Voyage de decouvertes de L'Astrolabe pendant les annees 1826-1827-1828-1829, sous le commandement de M.J. Dumont D'Urville, Zoologie, 2: 1-686.
• Rudman, W.B. (1984) The Chromodorididae (Opisthobranchia: Mollusca) of the Indo-West Pacific: a review of the genera. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 81: 115-273.

Authorship details
Rudman, W.B., 1999 (December 5) Durvilledoris lemniscata (Quoy & Gaimard, 1832). [In] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/factsheet/durvlemn

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