Glossodoris vespa
Rudman, 1990

Order: NUDIBRANCHIA
Suborder: DORIDINA
Family: Chromodorididae

DISTRIBUTION

Known only from southern Queensland.

PHOTO

Off Mooloolaba, Sunshine Coast, Queensland, November 1981.
Photo: Richard Willan.

The mantle is ovate with a relatively wide, but only slightly folded, mantle overlap with only one major fold on each side halfway between the gills and the rhinophores. The mantle glands are small and spherical forming a continuous line around the mantle on the inside edge of the submarginal yellow band. The mantle is black with fine white specks and a broad yellow submarginal band around the mantle skirt both dorsally and ventrally. The body and foot are also black and there is a paler yellow submarginal band around the edge of the foot. The gills and the rhinophores are also black, the gill lamellae being translucent. The gills are simple but because the blood vessels are enlarged, each gill has a broad rounded region along the dorsal and ventral edge. The gills form an arc around the anterior side of the anus before each arm of the arc curves inwards to form a spiral on each side.

Reference:
• Rudman, W.B. (1990) The Chromodorididae (Opisthobranchia: Mollusca) of the Indo-West Pacific: further species of Glossodoris, Thorunna and the Chromodoris aureomarginata colour group. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 100: 263-326.

Authorship details
Rudman, W.B., 1998 (May 26) Glossodoris vespa Rudman, 1990. [In] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/factsheet/glosvesp

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