Bornella stellifer? from Singapore

Dear Chay Hoon,
Thanks for this interesting find. It is surely the same as the animal in Alice Lee's earlier message, which you refer to [#7721], which I considered to be a variation of Bornella stellifer. Her animal was 8 cm long so much larger than yours. In both specimens the white pigmentation is very intense but there are indications of subterminal orange rings on the papillae on the oral lobes, which with the orange on the dorso-lateral processes makes me think this is B. stellifer.  Unfortunately in both hers and your photo the rhinophore sheath appendages and the dorso-lateral processes seem to be very contracted so I can get no good idea of their shape. If you have any photos showing the animal in a more 'relaxed' state it might be helpful.

A large animal - 10 cm long - photographed in Michael Aw's message [#8054] from Sarawak also seems to be a form of B. stellifer. It also has the heavy coating of white, but the orange markings are vertical lines rather than a reticulate pattern. Interestingly it looks very like the original painting of Bornella adamsii J. E. Gray in M. E. Gray, 1850, which is the type species of the genus, but is now considered a synonym of B. stellifer. It has the typical sub-apical orange rings on the dorso-lateral processes and the oral lobe papillae.

Best wishes,
Bill Rudman