Philinopsis aeci from the Bahamas

Dear Anne,
I am pretty sure this is the animal that Colin Redfern (2001: Pl.114, figs 649) calls Philinopsis sp. A. I suspect it is closely related to the Indo-West Pacific species Aglaja? orientalis as it has a similar body shape and patterns of transverse white bands across the body.

It sems that this species has been recently described from the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica as Philinopsis aeci. In that description, the general body shape is the same and an acoompanying photograph [Pl. 3, fig. A] shows traces of the white transverse bands but the background colour is a dark yellowish brown. A colour painting [Pl. 2, fig. C] has a much lighter backfround colour and yellowish tubercles, each surrounded by a bright orange red ring are very conspicuous. Similar tubercles with a white basal ring are sometimes seen in Aglaja? orientalis so I suspect their presence in the Costa Rican specimens and their absence in Bahamian animals does not necessarily mean that there are two different species. Clearly what we need is more photos to see just how much colour variation there is.

• Ortea, J., Espinosa, J. (2001) A new species of Philinopsis Pease, 1860 (in Spanish). Avicennia, Moluscos del Mar caribe de Costa Rica, Suplemento 4: 41-42.

Thanks for starting the year with some interesting finds
Best wishes
Bill Rudman