Hypselodoris maridadilus
Rudman, 1977

Order: NUDIBRANCHIA
Suborder: DORIDINA
Family: Chromodorididae

DISTRIBUTION

Western Indian Ocean

PHOTO

Bongoyo Is, off Kunduchi Bch, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, February 1974, 30mm long. PHOTO: Bill Rudman.

RELATED TOPIC

Hypselodoris emma

At presently known only from the western Indian Ocean, including records from South Africa, Mauritius, Tanzania, Kenya, Reunion Is., Red Sea and the Arabian Sea. Records from the western Pacific are most probably Hypselodoris whitei. The animal of Hypselodoris maridadilus is yellow, with a purple border to the foot and the mantle, and a series of five longitudinal purple lines. the gills and rhinophores are bright orange-red. The body is relatively high and the front of the mantle widens to give the body a spatulate appearance. Indistinct violet transverse bands link the longitudinal lines. There are consistent colour differences between this species and Hypselodoris whitei. In that species the rhinophores have a white tip and the gills have a white inner edge. See my March 1, 1999 reply to Clay Bryce for a discussion on H. centunculus Yonow, 1994 which has been superceded by Gosliner & Johnson (1999) who examined the anatomy of one of Yonow's specimens and concluded that it is identical to Hypselodoris whitei in features of the radula and mantle glands.

References:
• Gosliner, T.M. & Johnson, R.F. (1999) Phylogeny of Hypselodoris (Nudibranchia: Chromodorididae) with a review of the monophyletic clade of Indo-Pacific species, including descriptions of twelve new species. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 125: 1-114.
• Rudman, W.B. (1977) Chromodorid opisthobranch Mollusca from East Africa and the tropical West Pacific. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 61: 351-397.
•Yonow, N. (1994) Opisthobranchs from the Maldive Islands, including descriptions of seven new species (Mollusca: Gastropoda). Revue fr. Aquariol., 20(4): 97-130.

Authorship details
Rudman, W.B., 1999 (March 1) Hypselodoris maridadilus Rudman, 1977. [In] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/factsheet/hypsmard

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