Thordisa azmanii
Cervera & Garcia-Gomez , 1989

Order: NUDIBRANCHIA
Suborder: DORIDINA
Superfamily: EUDORIDOIDEA

DISTRIBUTION

Atlantic coast of the Iberian Peninsula

PHOTO

Ria, Galicia, 25 meters, Spain, Atlantic Ocean, 27 October 2007, on sponge. Length: 20 mm. Photographer: Jacinto Pérez.

Like all species of Thordisa, the mantle is covered with retractile tapering papillae. The background colour is a dark orange brown and the papillae have scattered white patches. The lower half of the gills is a dark brownish colour while the upper half is whitish, and the rhinophores are similarly coloured.

This species has been recorded from northern Iberian Peninsula (from Asturias) by Ortea and Martinez (1990) under the name of T. diuda Marcus, 1955, which they considered a synonym of T. azmanii, but Chan and Gosliner (2006) consider the two species to be distinct.

It has similarities externally to T. filix, but that species is lighter in colour and has many more mantle papillae. Internally, the prostate of T. azmanii, which is arranged in a large spiral, is quite different from the cylindrical form of the prostate in the other species of the genus.

• Chan, J.M. & Gosliner. T.M. 2007. Preliminary Phylogeny of Thordisa (Nudibranchia: Discodorididae) with Descriptions of Five New Species. The Veliger, 48(4): 284–308..
• Cervera, J. & Garcia Gomez, J. 1989  A new species of the genus Thordisa. (Mollusca: Nudibranchia) from the southwestern Iberian Peninsula. The Veliger, 34(4): 382–386.
• Cervera, J. L., Calado, G., Gavaia, C., Malaquias, M. A. E., Templado, J., Ballesteros, M., García-Gómez, J. C., and Megina, C. (2006) An annotated and updated checklist of the opisthobranchs (Mollusca: Gastropoda) from Spain and Portugal (including islands and archipelagos). Boletín Instituto Espanol de Oceanografía  20: 1-122.
• Ortea, J. & Martínez, E. 1990. Captura en la Concha de Artedo de Thordisa diuda Marcus, 1955 (Nudibranchia: Doridacea), un nuevo molusco anfiatlántico. Boletín de Ciencias de la Naturaleza del Instituto de Estudios Asturianos, 40: 3-11.
• Ortea, J. A. & Valdes, A. 1995. Una nueva especie de Thordisa Bergh, 1877 (Mollusca: Nudibranchia: Discodorididae) de las costas Angola. Avicennia, 3:35–41.

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