Polycera quadrilineata or Trapania tartanella ?

June 8, 2006
From: Stephane Ores

Dear Bill

I saw this seaslug on a red alga, which looks like Polycera quadrilineata but it has some papillae near the branchiae, which make me wonder if it is Trapania tartanella..

Locality: St Cast, northern Brittany, France, 8 m, Brittany, France, Channel, Atlantic Ocean, 05 june 2006, Good visibility. Length: 25 mm. Photographer: Stephane Ores

Thanks for your help
Stephane

stephane.ores@neuf.fr

Ores, S., 2006 (Jun 8) Polycera quadrilineata or Trapania tartanella ?. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/16814

Dear Stephane,
This is Polycera quadrilineata and it does look similar in colour to Trapania tartanella. Both have a single papilla alongside the gills, but there are major differences at the head end of the body. Species of Trapania have a pair of recurved lateral papillae, one on each side of the rhinophores. Also in Trapania there is no mantle edge forming a cover over the head, so the head and its pair of oral tentacles are clearly visible. In Polycera the mantle skirt is really only apparent around the anterior end of the body and it has a series of fairly large pointed papillae along its edge, which you can see in your photo. In Polycera, the 'head' is hidden beneath the mantle skirt.
Best wishes,
Bill Rudman

Rudman, W.B., 2006 (Jun 8). Comment on Polycera quadrilineata or Trapania tartanella ? by Stephane Ores. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/16814

Factsheet

Polycera quadrilineata

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