Discodoris boholiensis Bergh, 1877

Location: Wai Nilu, Komodo, Indonesia
Date: 2015/06/20
Length: 20mm
Depth: 10.0m
Water temperature: 26.6℃

Description

Alcohol-preserved specimens 5.2-7.5 cm long, 4-5 cm wide and 1.3-1.5 cm high. The body is depressed, with a broad mantle skirt extending well beyond the foot all around, and an oval to rounded outline. The dorsum is almost roof-shaped, somewhat raised, with a rounded median longitudinal ridge running from the rhinophore region to the gill aperture; the dorsal surface is covered with very small papillae.

The ground colour is whitish, dirty yellowish-white or more dirty yellow; the dorsum is densely covered with rounded, dark-brown to black spots up to 0.25 mm in diameter. The median dorsal ridge is patchily black or studded with black blotches. The mantle and foot margins are black, with the dorsal margin sending in short and often broad black tongues that give the outer mantle skirt a piebald appearance. The margins of the rhinophore and gill apertures are black or black-blotched, the rhinophore club brownish or blackish, the gill plumes blackish with whitish rachides; the oral tentacles are entirely black. Each gill half consists of three to four tripinnate plumes.

Distribution

Type localities: Bohol (Philippines) and Aibukit, Palau Islands. Indonesian (Edam) material was later referred to the same species, so the range extends from the Philippines and Palau across to Indonesia.

Etymology

The specific epithet boholiensis is a Latin toponymic adjective, "of Bohol", from the central Visayan island of Bohol, Philippines, where the central type specimen was collected in deeper water.

Remarks

The species is the first listed in the genus Discodoris and exemplifies the generic characters. The original spelling is Discodoris Boholiensis (capitalised toponymic adjective, in 19th-century convention); the current spelling boholiensis follows the ICZN.