Doriopsis flabellifera
(Cheeseman, 1881)

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

DISTRIBUTION

Endemic to New Zealand. Known only from the North Island.

PHOTO

No locality details available. Photo: Michael C. Miller

Yellow, medium sized dorid, growing to aprox 30 mm in length. The mantle is rough and firm to touch, without obvious tubercles. The most distinctive feature, other than its colour, is the arrangement of the gills in a posteriorly facing horizontal fan, with a flap of mantle forming a dorsal cover [See Michael Miller's photo above].

This is possibly a southern form of the Indo-West Pacific species Doriopsis granulosa. [see that species' Fact Sheet for further discussion].

  • Cheeseman, T. F. (1881) On some new species of nudibranchiate Mollusca. Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute, 13, 222-224.
Authorship details
Rudman, W.B., 2009 (March 26) Doriopsis flabellifera (Cheeseman, 1881). [In] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/factsheet/doriflab

Related messages

  1. Doriopsis flabellifera from near Auckland, New Zealand
    From: Graham Bould, March 26, 2009

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