Colour variation in Siphopteron sp. 5

January 19, 2004
From: Nils Anthes

Dear Bill,
Thanks for your comments on my earlier message. In this message I include some more pictures on the colour variation we found in Siphopteron sp. 5. As I said in my accompanying message concerning Siphopteron quadrispinosum, we unfortunately had no success in finding what this species ate.

Concerning colour variation, the more or less purely red colour variant seems to be most common around Lizard Island [Nth Queensland], followed by the brown ones with white and yellow spots. We found intermediate colour types only occasionally, suggesting that there is a not a totally free combination of the different colour types. Mixed copulations, however, can be regularly seen in the field.

Best wishes
Nils

anthes@uni-muenster.de

Anthes, N., 2004 (Jan 19) Colour variation in Siphopteron sp. 5. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/11945

Dear Nils,
I am glad you saw these animals mating and in large numbers. If these animals had been collected in ones or twos it would have been quite easy to believe that you had 2 or 3 distinct species. A very instructive lesson
Best wishes
Bill Rudman

Rudman, W.B., 2004 (Jan 19). Comment on Colour variation in Siphopteron sp. 5 by Nils Anthes. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/11945

Factsheet

Siphopteron sp. 5

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