Chromodoris mandapamensis Á. Valdés, Mollo & Ortea, 1999

Description

The body is elongate, with the posterior end of the notum extending beyond and covering the foot. The background colour is cream to pale grey, and the entire dorsum is densely covered with numerous rounded dark brown spots. These spots appear diffuse near the mantle edge. A broken line of bright orange spots runs along the mantle margin, with several ramified subepidermical mantle glands inside this line.
The rhinophore stalks are cream with several dark brown spots; the rhinophores are brown with white-edged lamellae, and the apexes are reddish with white tips. Each rhinophore has 17 lamellae. The gill consists of seven large bipinnate branchial leaves, pale brown with numerous small opaque white dots scattered over the surface and large brown spots near the base.
Body length reaches approximately 50 mm in the holotype.

Distribution

Type locality: Mandapam, Tamil Nadu, India. Recorded from southern India (Mandapam in Tamil Nadu and Muttom in Kerala) as well as the Gulf of Thailand (around Koh Phangan).

Etymology

The specific epithet mandapamensis refers to Mandapam (Tamil Nadu, India), the type locality.

Remarks

Distinguished from similar species as follows:

• Doris humberti Kelaart, 1859 (now in Goniobranchus) is white with purple and brown spots and has nine branchial leaves, contrasting with the seven of Chromodoris mandapamensis.
• Chromodoris lineolata (van Hasselt, 1824) and Chromodoris striatella Bergh, 1876, both white-bodied with numerous brown to black lines, are easily distinguished from Chromodoris mandapamensis which bears spots rather than lines.

---

References

• Chromodoris mandapamensis sp. nov., Valdés Á., Mollo E. & Ortea J. (1999). Two new species of Chromodoris (Mollusca, Nudibranchia, Chromodorididae) from southern India, with a redescription of Chromodoris trimarginata (Winckworth, 1946). Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences. 51(13): 461-472.
• Chromodoris mandapamensis, Johnson R.F. & Gosliner T.M. (2012). Traditional taxonomic groupings mask evolutionary history: a molecular phylogeny and new classification of the chromodorid nudibranchs. PLoS ONE 7(4): e33479.
• Chromodoris mandapamensis, Layton K.K., Gosliner T.M. & Wilson N.G. (2018). Flexible colour patterns obscure identification and mimicry in Indo-Pacific Chromodoris nudibranchs (Gastropoda: Chromodorididae). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 124: 27-36. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ympev.2018.02.008