Thorunna florens
(Baba, 1949)

Order: NUDIBRANCHIA
Suborder: DORIDINA
Family: Chromodorididae

DISTRIBUTION

Tropical western Pacific from Japan to Australia; eastern Indian Ocean (Thailand, Western Australia).

PHOTO

UPPER: A, Rocky Bluff, Enderby Island, Dampier Archipelago, Western Australia, April 1987. (6mm long preserved) PHOTO: Clay Bryce. B, Hong Kong, China, April 1989, (9mm long preserved) PHOTO: Brian Darvell.
LOWER LEFT: Western Australian specimen with egg mass. PHOTO: Clay Bryce.
LOWER RIGHT: Phi Phi Is, Thailand, November 1989, C162380. PHOTO: D.J. Brunckhorst.

RELATED TOPIC

Thorunna? sp. 1 from Western Australia

Originally described from Japan, the animal illustrated above from Hong Kong looks very similar to the many reports from Japan. In Japanese specimens the purple submarginal line is broken into a string of diffuse spots or patches much like in the Thailand specimen. I consider the Western Australian specimens to represent a colour form rather than a separate species as their internal anatomy is identical to that of the Hong Kong and Japanese specimens. See messages below for discussion of the Thailand specimen.

References:
• Baba, K., 1988. Anatomical information on Thorunna (=Babaina) (Nudibranchia: Chromodorididae) from Toyama Bay and vicinity, Japan. The Veliger, 30: 325-328. [lists earlier Japanese references].
• Rudman,W.B. 1990. The Chromodorididae (Opisthobranchia: Mollusca) of the Indo-West Pacific: further species of Glossodoris, Thorunna and the Chromodoris aureomarginata colour group. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 100: 263-326.

Authorship details
Rudman, W.B., 1998 (November 11) Thorunna florens (Baba, 1949). [In] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/factsheet/thorflor

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