'Aglajid sp. 1' from Sulawesi
April 28, 2000
From: Lindsay Warren
Dear Bill
We think this specimen is a species of Philinopsis or Gastropteron. It was found by Doug Philpott at 4pm on 17 June 1999 at a depth of 9 m crawling along a patch of sand on a wall of Pulau Hoga [Tukang Besi
Archipelago, SE Sulawesi, Indonesia - Operation Wallacea]. Size: 4 mm.
The overall body colour is mottled creamy white with the posterior section being darker than the anterior and the two rounded tails white. Along the edge of the foot is a series of black spots. The texture is slightly bumpy rather than the more usual smooth texture of other species. The head is shield like with the posterior edge rising away from the body. Two black spots on either side of the front of the head might be eye spots. Photo: Lindsay Warren. Unfortunately not a very clear one!
Any ideas?
All the best
Lindsay Warren
100014.2112@compuserve.com
Warren, L., 2000 (Apr 28) 'Aglajid sp. 1' from Sulawesi. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/2318Dear Lindsay,
This is another one of those coincidences which seem to occur quite often on the Forum. I am sure your animal is the same as the one in Atsushi Ono's message yesterday from Kerama Island in tropical Japan.
As I said in my reply to him I am pretty sure that this is an aglajid, but we would need to study its anatomy to be sure. It is interesting that you describe the head as 'shieldlike' for we in fact call that front section of the dorsal skin the head shield and the scientific name for the Order Cephalaspidea comes from two Greek words meaning head + shield. In a similar manner the Order Notaspidea are named for their back shield and the Sea Hares (Anaspidea) for their apparent lack of a shield.
Best wishes,
Bill Rudman.
Related messages
-
Re: Aglajid sp. 1.
From: C. Carlson & P.J. Hoff, April 27, 2000 -
Aglajid from Kerama Id, Japan
From: Atsushi Ono, April 26, 2000
