The bivalved sacoglossan genus Julia in Hawaii

October 12, 2001
From: Cory Pittman

Dear Bill,
The Juliids are one of my favorite groups and, for many years, I've been observing them in Hawaii. Although the rest of the shells in your photo are clearly Julia exquisita, the upper right photo is actually Julia zebra. In my opinion, based on consistent differences not only in their color but also in their shell morphology, these species are not synonyms. In addition, I believe there are two other valid species of Julia in Hawaii. All four appear to have broad Indo-Pacific distributions. I'm including photos and information on all of them in separate messages. Image sizes in each of the three sets of shell photos were adjusted to the same standard in order to emphasize the proportional differences in shell morphology. I hope this will be of interest.

See separate messages for:
Julia exquisita
Julia zebra
Julia sp. 1
Julia sp. 2

Best wishes,
Cory

cory@cet.com

Pittman, C., 2001 (Oct 12) The bivalved sacoglossan genus Julia in Hawaii. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/5371

Dear Cory,
Thanks for all the interesting information on Hawaiian species of Julia that you have sent today in separate messages. I will have to check through my notes and photos to see what I have really found in the past. I must say that I thought I could see a clear gradation from one colour type to another and so assumed I was dealing with a single species. It would be interesting to know whether these species have different food requirements.

You have given me the impetus to look out my photos on the temperate southeastern Australian bivalved sacoglossans to add to the Forum. They certainly seem to prefer different species of Caulerpa
Thanks again,
Bill Rudman

Rudman, W.B., 2001 (Oct 12). Comment on The bivalved sacoglossan genus Julia in Hawaii by Cory Pittman. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/5371

Factsheet

Julia exquisita

Related messages

  1. Julia exquisita found in my tank
    From: Andy Jukes, August 14, 2006
  2. Hawaiian Julia exquisita
    From: Cory Pittman, October 12, 2001
  3. Shell of Julia exquisita
    From: Cory Pittman, October 12, 2001
  4. The bivalved sacoglossan Julia exquisita
    From: Bill Rudman, July 21, 1999

Show factsheet and all related messages