Re: Hypselodoris bertschi

December 18, 1999
From: Terry Gosliner

Dear Bill,
I am very interested to see Atusushi's photos of the Hypselodoris from Japanese waters. I will admit that it looks somewhat like H. bertschi, but I think it is one of the many color variants of H. maculosa. The main reason I say this is based on the differences in distribution of mantle glands in the two species. In H. bertschi, the mantle glands form a continuous line from the posterior end of the animal to about the level of the rhinophores. In H. maculosa, the glands are interrupted in the middle region of the body. The animal in Atsushi's photo appears to lack glands in the middle region. Also, in both Mike Miller's photo to which you link and the photo in Bertsch and Johnson to which you refer have obvious and continuous mantle glands. In H. bertschi the dark spots tend to be larger than those of H. maculosa and the white lines are usually much fainter in H. bertschi. It would be nice to have a specimen to examine to confirm the anatomical differences. H. bertschi has a much larger penial sac and some radular differences, as well.

There is another problem with the name of H. bertschi that Kathe Jensen pointed out to me. Bergh (1880) stated in a footnote that Pease's Hawaiian specimens had the same name as Eydoux and Souleyet's Doris lineata and needed a new name. Bergh dseignated the name Chromodoris peasei for Pease's Hawaiian animals. Therefore the species should be called Hypselodoris peasei (Bergh, 1880) rather than H. bertschi. Sorry about that Hans!

This situation was made a bit more complex by the fact that Kay and Young included an animal they identified as H. peasei, but this animal is clearly a Noumea and most likely Noumea simplex.

All the best,
Terry

tgosline@calacademy.org

Gosliner, T., 1999 (Dec 18) Re: Hypselodoris bertschi. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/1689

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