Halgerda willeyi? mating with???
May 2, 2002
From: Erwin Koehler
Dear Bill,
At Coon's website is a photo of 2 mating Halgerdas. The right one is Halgerda wasinensis, but who is the other one???
http://www2.gateway.ne.jp/~coon/slug-24.htm
. Bob Bolland wrote: "No idea at all about this... I've never seen a Halgerda this dark before."
Erwin
Erwin@medslugs.de
Koehler,E., 2002 (May 2) Halgerda willeyi? mating with???. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/5246Dear Erwin,
Thanks for finding this photo. The owner of the website is Mr Naohisa Arai, who has given me permission to use his interesting photo.
Details are: Yaeyama Islands, Okinawa, Japan [Lat N 24 degrees Long E 124 degrees]. mid-May, 2001. Environment is a reef region at depth of 43ft.
I suspect this species is closer to H. willeyi then H. wasinensis. Typical H. wasinensis from East Africa has a black background and numerous thin ridges on the mantle. In H. willeyi there are a few ridges, and the background colour of the mantle is translucent white with black lines. In the animal on the right the black lines are a lot thicker than usual but if this is a melanistic variety that would be expected. In the animal on the left, which is mating with the other, the black lines are even broader, and the yellow lines along the ridges are absent.
Whether this is a form of H. willeyi or a separate species I wouldn't know, but there is again a clear lesson to be learned here - don't describe new species from a single specimen!
Best wishes,
Bill Rudman.
Related messages
-
Halgerda willeyi from Saudi Arabia
From: Gert Van Roey, July 22, 2008 -
Colour variations of Halgerda willeyi
From: Gary Cobb, September 8, 2007 -
Halgerda johnsonorum? at Pulau Aur, Malaysia
From: Yap Ting Wee, August 11, 2007 -
Halgerda willeyi from Iriomote Is., Japan
From: J.R. Pahlano Daud, April 5, 2007 -
Halgerda willeyi from the Kermadec Ids
From: Ian Skipworth, April 29, 2006 -
Halgerda willeyi ? from the Red Sea
From: Joseph De Vroe, December 2, 2005 -
Halgerda willeyi from Myanmar
From: Mary Jane Adams, March 26, 2003 -
Halgerda willeyi from Lord Howe Island
From: W.B. Rudman, January 29, 2003 -
Halgerda willeyi from Jervis Bay, eastern Australia
From: Allan Saben, November 22, 2002 -
Halgerda from the Philippines
From: Erwin Koehler, October 18, 2002 -
Re: Halgerda in temperate Australian waters?
From: Leander Wiseman, October 7, 2002 -
RE: Juvenile Halgerda sp. from Taiwan
From: Nishina Masayoshi, July 18, 2002 -
Halgerda iota? from Malaysia
From: Richard Houghton, July 12, 2002 -
Halgerda willeyi? from the Adriatic
From: Tom Turk, February 6, 2001 -
Halgerda willeyi? from Philippines
From: Fredy Brauchli, July 12, 2000 -
Halgerda willeyi from Taiwan
From: Bernard Picton , March 8, 2000 -
Halgerda willeyi from the Philippines
From: Bernard Picton, March 8, 2000 -
Halgerda willeyi from Mooloolaba?
From: Wayne Ellis, June 17, 1998