Cadlinella hirsuta
Rudman, 1995

Order: NUDIBRANCHIA
Suborder: DORIDINA
Superfamily: EUDORIDOIDEA
Family: Chromodorididae

DISTRIBUTION

New Caledonia and the Chesterfield Reefs.

PHOTO

Upper: S Lagoon, Baie du Prony, (western arm), New Caledonia, 25 m, 29 August 1987, AM C167744. Holotype. Photo: P. Laboute. Lower Right: S Lagoon, Canal Woodin, New Caledonia, 4 m, 20 June 1979, 2 specimens on sponge. Photo: P. Laboute. Lower left: SEM of radular teeth, AM C200627, Koumac, New Caledonia, 25 October 1993, 15 mm long alive. Scale bar = 10µm. Photos: A. C. Miller.

The mantle is a deep translucent yellow, covered with long, opaque white tapering papillae. The papillae have a translucent clear basal band and in one specimen the upper third of each papillae is pink. The gills and rhinophores are translucent white. On the mantle skirt small whitish mantle glands can be seen through the mantle wall. There is a narrow translucent clear band around the mantle edge. The underside of the mantle is translucent yellow and the opaque white clusters of the mantle glands can be clearly seen. Also visible are the network of transparent mantle spicules. The body and foot are translucent yellow with a narrow translucent clear border around the edge of the foot.

The mantle is ovate and bears long tapering papillae. They are larger in the central region, appearing shorter and more closely packed nearer the mantle edge. Also around the mantle edge can be seen little raised bumps, corresponding to the positions of the sub-epidermal mantle glands. The mantle glands are arranged in three bands around the mantle skirt. At the edge is a region with small irregularly scattered glands. Inside this the small individual glands are arranged into tightly packed clusters. Embedded deeply in the mantle tissue, near the body, is a third gland type, a compound gland consisting of a translucent ring (of connective tissue or muscle) surrounding a ring of white spherical glands. There is a pore in the centre of these compound glands, which opens ventrally on the mantle skirt. There are about eight of these compound glands down each side of the mantle. When irritated, all the white spheres are extruded out of the central pore. The glands sit in a network of clearly visible spicules. The rhinophore clubs are long and tapering, and the six long simple gills form a circle around the anus.

This species is similar in colour and anatomy to C. ornatissima, the most obvious difference being the long tapering papillae

• Rudman, W.B. (1995) The Chromodorididae (Opisthobranchia: Mollusca) of the Indo-West Pacific: further species from New Caledonia and the Noumea romeri colour group. Molluscan Research, 16: 1-43.

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