Diaphorodoris lirulatocauda

March 12, 2001
From: Richard Willan

Dear Bill,
The white, spikey dorid in Marli Wakeling's photograph from British Columbia is
Diaphorodoris lirulatocauda. It is distinctive among the many small, papillose dorids in the northeastern Pacific. Sandra Millen gave a very thorough description of it in 1985, with good comparisons between it and the Onchidoris species with which it is sympatric, the closest externally being O. muricata. Two definitive characters of D. lirulatocauda that are easily visible in Marli's photo are the shape of the rhinophores and the papillae on the mantle. In D. lirulatocauda the rhinophores are long and slender with a blunt tip (rectangular and flat-topped tip in O. muricata) and the papillae are cylindrical in D. lirulatocauda (each papilla bears a knobbed club in O. muricata). I met D. lirulatocauda myself in California and Mexico in 1986, the latter representing a significant range extension southwards.

References
• Bertsch, H. & R.C. Willan, 1986. Occurrence of the nudibranch Diaphorodoris
lirulatocauda in northwest Mexico. The Festivus, 18(10): 145.
• Millen, S.V. 1985. The nudibranch genera Onchidoris and Diaphorodoris (Mollusca, Opisthobranchia) in the northeastern Pacific. The Veliger, 28(1): 80-93.

Best wishes,
Richard

Richard.Willan@nt.gov.au

Willan, R., 2001 (Mar 12) Diaphorodoris lirulatocauda. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/3954

Dear Richard,
Thanks for the message and information on this species. The problem with only having one photo is how to interpret the characters. So I decided to err on the side of caution.

Thanks to you, and the others for confirming it identity.
Bill Rudman

Rudman, W.B., 2001 (Mar 12). Comment on Diaphorodoris lirulatocauda by Richard Willan. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/3954

Factsheet

Diaphorodoris lirulatocauda

Related messages

  1. Diaphorodoris lirulatocauda from the Yellow Sea, Korea
    From: Dong Bum Koh, December 7, 2009
  2. Re: Diaphorodoris lirulatocauda from California
    From: John Yasaki, September 24, 2008
  3. Diaphorodoris lirulatocauda from California
    From: Clinton Bauder, May 29, 2007
  4. Re: Diaphorodoris lirulatocauda
    From: Dave Behrens , March 12, 2001
  5. Re: Diaphorodoris lirulatocauda from British Columbia
    From: Jeff Goddard, March 12, 2001
  6. Diaphorodoris lirulatocauda? from British Columbia
    From: Marli Wakeling, March 8, 2001

Show factsheet and all related messages