Bullina sp 1 from Samoa

March 19, 2000
From: Bill Rudman,

Hear are some photographs [by Alison Miller] of the teeth of Don Barclay's Bullina from Samoa. It is quite different from the radula of the common Bullina lineata which I have included separately for comparison. The teeth of B. lineata are more than three times the length of those of Bullina sp. 1 and they have only 2 or 3 denticles, compared with 10 or 11 in this species. It looks quite like the radula of Bullina roseana but that species has a much higher spire to the shell.

I was unable to find an operculum, which confirms Don's observation. B. lineata, on the other hand does have an operculum.

I also found the stomach swollen with food - about 20 small worms, each about 5mm long. On examination they turned out to be all of the same species of the polychaete worm family Ctenodrilidae, a group recently separated from the Cirratulidae, and of which we know very little. Whether Don's Bullina had specifically chosen only this species to eat, or whether is had come across a dense population and was 'filling up' while the going was good, will have to wait until some more specimens are found. But considering how many specimens of Bullina lineata I have looked at and found nothing in the stomach, this is indeed a lucky find.

This is a species of Bullina, and from the proportions of the shell and protoconch, it is not a juvenile.

Bill Rudman.

Rudman, W.B., 2000 (Mar 19) Bullina sp 1 from Samoa. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/2112

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