Dermatobranchus dendronephthyphagus Gosliner & Fahey, 2011

Dermatobranchus dendronephthyphagus

No field photograph submitted for this species yet

Description

Body elongate, broad, slightly flattened, narrowing posteriorly. The dorsum bears approximately 14 well-elevated longitudinal ridges that may further branch posteriorly. The oral veil is large and expansive with rounded corners. Well-separated, bulbous rhinophores sit behind the oral veil; the rounded club bears longitudinal lamellae and a small rounded apex.
Ground colour of the dorsum is white with dark brown to black longitudinal lines situated between the dorsal ridges. Areas of denser dark pigment are scattered over the surface of the notum. The oral veil bears a series of large black spots that diffuse near the margins. A marginal yellow-orange band runs along both the notum and the oral veil. Rhinophore stalks are white with black pigment and the clubs are white with black pigment on the lamellae; the tips are white.

Distribution

Southern Japan and probably also New South Wales, Australia. Type locality: Horseshoe Cliffs, 1 km west-north-west of Onna Village, Okinawa, Ryukyu Islands, Japan, 43 m.

Etymology

The original description (Gosliner & Fahey, 2011, p.299-300) contains no separate Etymology subsection for this species, unlike the other new Dermatobranchus described in the same paper. The compound name dendronephthyphagus combines the host genus Dendronephthya with the Greek-derived suffix -phagus ("eater", from phagein, "to eat"); the host association is documented in the Type material and Remarks sections of the original description, where the holotype and paratype were taken on Dendronephthya.