Atagema rugosa
Pruvot-Fol, 1951
Order: NUDIBRANCHIA
Suborder: DORIDINA
Superfamily: EUDORIDOIDEA
Family: Dorididae
DISTRIBUTION
Known from a few Mediterranean records. Also reported from South Africa.
PHOTO
Cape Town, 15m, Western Cape, Sth Africa, Atlantic, 28 January 2006, Reef with hard and soft corals. Length: 25 mm. Photographer: Andrew Taylor
Described from a single specimen from the Mediterranean coast of France, little is known of this species apart from one further record from southern Italy (Perrone, 1983a,b) where a specimen with a pair of black spots behind the rhinophores and another pair in front of the gills is reported. Gosliner (1987) identifies this species from the Atlantic coast of Sth Africa with Pruvot-Fol's species. The median ridge on the dorsum, between the gills and the rhinophores, certainly suggest a species of Atagema. Andrew Taylor's specimen, posted here, is identical in shape and colour to the photo in Gosliner (1987).
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Gosliner,T.M. (1987) Nudibranchs of Southern Africa, a guide to the Opisthobranchs of southern Africa. Sea Challengers, Monterey. 136 pages.
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Perrone, A. S. (1983) Descrizione di un raro Nudibranco Mediterraneo: Atagema rugosa (Pruvot-Fol, 1951). Bollettino Malacologico, 19: 49-56.
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Perrone, A. S. (1983) Record of Atagema rugosa Pruvot-Fol, 1951 (Opisthobranchia: Nudibranchia). Journal of Molluscan Studies, 49: 88.
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Pruvot-Fol, A. (1951) Études des nudibranches de la Méditerranée. 2. Archives de Zoologie Expérimentale et Générale, Paris, 88: 1-80.
Rudman, W.B., 2006 (February 17) Atagema rugosa Pruvot-Fol, 1951. [In] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/factsheet/atagrugo