Palio from Denmark is P. dubia

September 22, 2000
From: Bernard Picton

Hi Bill,

Yes, I agree with Kathe that this is Palio dubia. Much of the confusion in the literature regarding these two species is due to the fact that they have been wrongly synonymised several times and the older name is P. dubia. Then all the records of P. nothus get attributed to the name dubia!

P. dubia is much the rarer of the two species (in number of records) occurring sublittorally in 20 metres or more normally, whilst P. nothus is often found intertidally. The bryozoan in Peter's photo looks like Eucratea loricata, which is the food of P. dubia, while P. nothus feeds on Bowerbankia species.

Palio dubia is a northern species with us in the UK so I'd expect it in the North Sea. Indeed I see that it is recorded right up into Northern Norway and Greenland in Just and Edmunds North Atlantic Nudibranchs seen by Henning Lemche. According to the distribution charts there it is recorded from the area E. Denmark & Sweden W coast, but not from W Denmark and Skagerrak, but in any case there could be confusion in the literature due to the name changes I've mentioned.

Bernard

bernard.picton.um@nics.gov.uk

Picton, B., 2000 (Sep 22) Palio from Denmark is P. dubia. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/3064

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