Paradoris sp.? from South Africa

Dear Riaan,

Yes this is one I tentatively thought was a species of Paradoris when Colin sent his photo in [message #18539 ]. It has been hiding with the unidentified Sth African species, so I think it is time to make a Paradoris sp. 1 page for it.

This is possibly the species of Paradoris, recently described recently by Dayrat, (2006: 209-216, Figs 57C-E) but not actually named. He identified it as Paradoris sp. B.  It is translucent with closely placed opaque white spots and some elongate black streaks. The black streaks  are shorter than the lines in the Sth African animals but are otherwise quite similar. As we can see in the close-up alongside, the white in your animal consists of closely spaced opaque white spots like Dayrat's material.

I have also used this as an opportunity to sort out some other animals on the Forum which are most probably species of Paradoris. For example  Doris sp. 11 from the Marshall Ids [message #2017], is almost certainly the same as this Sth African species so I am moving it to this page. There are also three records of a similarly coloured species, which Dayrat has reported on as Paradoris sp. C, [#5182, #4717, #4637] which I have moved from the unidentified lists to Paradoris sp. 2.

There are also a group of messages concerning a Phyllidiella mimic which have been on the Forum as Doris? sp. 3. They may be a colour form of Paradoris liturata but I have kept them separate as Paradoris cf. liturata.

I have also moved Discodoris? liturata to Paradoris liturata, and made new pages for Paradoris lopezi and Paradoris erythraeensis. So I guess today is Paradoris day.

• Dayrat, B. (2006) A taxonomic revision of Paradoris sea slugs (Mollusca, Gastropoda, Nudibranchia, Doridina). Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 147: 125-238.

Best wishes,
Bill Rudman