Diaphorodoris lirulatocauda
March 12, 2001
From: Richard Willan
Dear Bill,
The white, spikey dorid in Marli Wakeling's photograph from British Columbia is
Diaphorodoris lirulatocauda. It is distinctive among the many small, papillose dorids in the northeastern Pacific. Sandra Millen gave a very thorough description of it in 1985, with good comparisons between it and the Onchidoris species with which it is sympatric, the closest externally being O. muricata. Two definitive characters of D. lirulatocauda that are easily visible in Marli's photo are the shape of the rhinophores and the papillae on the mantle. In D. lirulatocauda the rhinophores are long and slender with a blunt tip (rectangular and flat-topped tip in O. muricata) and the papillae are cylindrical in D. lirulatocauda (each papilla bears a knobbed club in O. muricata). I met D. lirulatocauda myself in California and Mexico in 1986, the latter representing a significant range extension southwards.
References
• Bertsch, H. & R.C. Willan, 1986. Occurrence of the nudibranch Diaphorodoris
lirulatocauda in northwest Mexico. The Festivus, 18(10): 145.
• Millen, S.V. 1985. The nudibranch genera Onchidoris and Diaphorodoris (Mollusca, Opisthobranchia) in the northeastern Pacific. The Veliger, 28(1): 80-93.
Best wishes,
Richard
Richard.Willan@nt.gov.au
Willan, R., 2001 (Mar 12) Diaphorodoris lirulatocauda. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/3954Dear Richard,
Thanks for the message and information on this species. The problem with only having one photo is how to interpret the characters. So I decided to err on the side of caution.
Thanks to you, and the others for confirming it identity.
Bill Rudman
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