Doriopsilla carneola (Angas, 1864)

Description

A small dorid reaching about 28 mm in body length and 17 mm in width. The body is oval. In life the mantle is brownish-orange, dotted with very few small whitish spots ("parum conspicuis aspersa"). The gills are large, branched and the same colour as the mantle. Angas's type was a single 28 × 17 mm specimen collected at Port-Jackson on 16 May together with Doris denisoni.

Distribution

South-eastern Australia. Type locality: Port-Jackson (Sydney Harbour), New South Wales, based on a single specimen collected by Angas during 1858–1860.

Etymology

The specific epithet carneola is the feminine of Latin carneolus ("flesh-coloured, pale pink"), in reference to the flesh-tinged brownish-orange ground colour. The meaning is consistent with Angas's Latin diagnosis "aurantio-brunnea, maculis minutis, albidis, parum conspicuis aspersa".

Remarks

Originally placed by Angas in Doris. Later transferred to Doriopsilla; the parentheses in the author citation reflect this generic transfer. Doriopsilla entirely lacks a radula and feeds by dissolving sponge tissue with digestive fluids and sucking up the resulting slurry — an unusual specialisation among dorid nudibranchs.

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References

• Doris carneola Angas n. sp., Angas G.F. (1864). Description d'espèces nouvelles appartenant à plusieurs genres de Mollusques Nudibranches des environs de Port-Jackson (Nouvelle-Galles du Sud), accompagnée de dessins faits d'après nature. Journal de Conchyliologie, 12(1): 43-70, pl. IV.