Noumea purpurea Colour Group
How to differentiate the species.

PHOTO

The Noumea purpurea 'Colour group' of chromodorid species are all pink or purple with a whitish border and whitish longitudinal lines on the body. I have used often used the concept of Colour Groups in my work on chromodorids because it is an easy way to compare similarly colourde species. There is no suggestion that species of a colour group are necessarily closely related, in fact tey are often in different genera.

Rather than try and describe the differences I have illustrated all the species and suggest you go to the relevant pages for more detailed information. How do we know two very similarly coloured species are different? In most cases there are quite significant anatomical differences, especially in radular morphology. This is not much use in the field. With living animals check the colour of the gills and rhinophores, see if there is any indication of the type of mantle glands around the mantle edge. Check the colour of the foot and note whether the gills rhythmically flicker or wriggle when the animal is crawling along.

References:
•Rudman, W.B. (1984) The Chromodorididae (Opisthobranchia: Mollusca) of the Indo-West Pacific: a review of the genera. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 81: 115-273.
•Rudman, W. B. (1986) The Chromodorididae (Opisthobranchia: Mollusca) of the Indo-West Pacific: Noumea purpurea and Chromodoris decora colour groups. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 86(4): 309-353.

Authorship details
Rudman, W.B., 1999 (December 3) Noumea purpurea Colour Group How to differentiate the species.. [In] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/factsheet/noumpur2

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