Re: Dondice occidentalis from Belize

June 9, 2000
From: Carlo Magenta-da-Cunha

Dear friends,
Marcus, 1958 said that in Dondice occidentalis:
"The living animals were white, with red markings. There is a median red stripe along the head and a stripe along each side that extends from the tentacle base dorsally to the genital pores, ventrally to the cerata, and caudally to the tip." and "The rhinophores are annulated with 15 to 18 rings..."

The specimens that I collect here (Brasil) is like that diagnosis but it is blue and doesn't have more that 10 rings in rhinophore. Is it another species or what... I'm confused? Does somebody have information about original description of Engel, 1925?

Soon I will take a picture of my specimen.

Reference: Marcus, E. (1958) On Western Atlantic Opistobranchiate Gastropods. Am. Mus. Nov., 1906: 1-82.

Best Regards!

Magenta

carlomagenta@uol.com.br

Magenta-da-Cunha, C., 2000 (Jun 9) Re: Dondice occidentalis from Belize. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/2518

Dear Magenta,
You often have to take a number of features of the animal into account when identifying a species from a written description. The 'white' could mean either opaque white or the iridescent bluish white you often find colouring aeolid bodies.

The number of rings on the rhinophores could also be a function of size. Marcus' animals were up to 30mm long so perhaps if your animals are smaller they would have less than 15-18 rings.

And then again, perhaps you do have a different species. Engel's animal was described from Jamaica, and Jeff Hamann's photos on the Forum from the Caribbean, don't have any red markings on the body, or on the cerata. Perhaps this species sometimes have the yellow lines you can see in Jeff Hamann's photos.

I look forward to seeing the photo.

Best wishes,
Bill Rudman.

Rudman, W.B., 2000 (Jun 9). Comment on Re: Dondice occidentalis from Belize by Carlo Magenta-da-Cunha. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/2518

Factsheet

Dondice occidentalis

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