Re: Unknown dorid from Vanuatu

June 5, 2007
From: Bill Rudman

Concerning message #1575:

While trying to identify another 'flat dorid' I came across this animal which I had called "Platydoris sp. 2" for want of a better idea.  It looks very similar to a colour photo in Dayrat (2006: Fig. 17 A) identified as Paradoris erythraeensis.  Although in the text its colour is described as "dorsal notum ... yellow with a few brown dots and minute dark dots distributed around a few whitish, low, conical, tubercles." the photo shows a white mantle with a yellow border, and a few large blackish spots down each side of the midline. There are also small minute dark spots as described by Dayrat.

Vinka Stenhouse's animal has more large black patches, but otherwise could well be the same species. As Benoit Dayrat comments, we know almost nothing about the colour of living animals of this species, let alone colour variability. Most records of this species are from the Indian Ocean, but Dayrat includes specimens from Thailand, Philippines and Indonesia, so if this specimen is indeed P. erythraeenesis,  an animal from Vanuatu is a small extension to the known range of the species.

  • Dayrat, B. (2006) A taxonomic revision of Paradoris sea slugs (Mollusca, Gastropoda, Nudibranchia, Doridina). Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 147 (2): 125-238.

Bill Rudman

Rudman, W.B., 2007 (Jun 5) Re: Unknown dorid from Vanuatu. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/19978

Factsheet

Paradoris erythraeensis

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