Burnaia helicochorda
(Miller, 1988)

Order: NUDIBRANCHIA
Suborder: AEOLIDINA
Family: Aeolidiidae

DISTRIBUTION

Northern New Zealand, New South Wales, Australia.

PHOTO

Green and Orange colour forms. Pilot Beach, Laurieton, New South Wales, Australia. 4 November 1979. AM C118699. 18-23mm long alive. Photos: John Fields.

Body translucent white with orange H pattern on the head. Relatively sparse cerata arranged anteriorly in arches and posteriorly in rows. Cerata either elongate and pointed as in photos or contracted and inflated with a series of annuli near the tip. There is a subapical orange band around the cerata. Digestive gland either bright brownish orange or green, and forms an irregular spiral inside the ceras. The name helicochorda refers to the spiral digestive gland duct. The reddish brown rhinophores are perfoliate.

First described from northern New Zealand as Aeolidia helicochorda it has been found a few times in New South Wales in eastern Australia.

See Radula photos.

Reference:
• Miller, M.C. (1988) Aeolidia helicochorda, a new aeolid nudibranch (Gastropoda: Opisthobranchia) from New Zealand. New Zealand Journal of Zoology, 14 (for 1987): 391-397.
• Miller, M.C. (2001) Aeolid nudibranchs (Gastropoda: Opisthobranchia) of the family Aeolidiidae from New Zealand waters. Journal of Natural History, 35(5): 629-663.

Authorship details
Rudman, W.B., 2001 (June 20) Burnaia helicochorda (Miller, 1988). [In] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/factsheet/burnheli

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