Phyllaplysia padinae from the Gulf of California

July 3, 2002
From: Jeff Goddard


Hi Bill,
At first glance, I thought that Alicia Hermosillo's photos of Petalifera? sp. from Bahia de Banderas might be Phyllaplysia padinae Williams & Gosliner 1973, to my knowledge known only from the Gulf of California. However, her specimen has papillate cephalic tentacles and more highly branched dorsal papillae. Also, the rhinophores appear to be different from the club-shaped rhinophores of P. padinae.

Anyway, for comparison, here are some photos of Phyllaplysia padinae and its flat egg masses that my wife Lise and I found at Punta la Gringa, Bahia de Los Angeles in the Gulf of California on 31 May 2001. We found these specimens inside basketball size specimens of the brown alga Hydroclathrus clathratus at the water's edge on a cobble beach at low tide. The slugs later grazed on pieces of this alga in the lab. Williams & Gosliner (1973) named P. padinae after Padina durvillaei, the substrate they most commonly observed the slug on, and on which P. padinae feeds. They also reported finding it on Zostera sp.

References:
• Williams, G. C. & T. M. Gosliner. (1973) A new species of anaspidean opisthobranch from the Gulf of California. The Veliger, 16: 216-232.

Best wishes,
Jeff

goddard@lifesci.ucsb.edu

Goddard, J., 2002 (Jul 3) Phyllaplysia padinae from the Gulf of California. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/7395

Thanks Jeff,
The Phyllaplysia - Petalifera group of species are very confusing so it is good to get photos of some of them for comparative purposes. I have put your photos of the egg ribbons in a separate message.
Best wishes,
Bill Rudman

Factsheet

Phyllaplysia padinae

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