Doriprismatica sibogae (Bergh, 1905)

Description

A medium-sized dorid, about 30 mm long, 7 mm wide and 6 mm high in alcohol. The body is oval, with a broad mantle border that is strongly bent up and down and smooth on the underside. The gill mound is slightly compressed antero-posteriorly with a transverse gill slit; the number of gill leaves is exactly 12. The foot is relatively narrow.

In preserved material the ground colour is whitish throughout, with the anterior and posterior parts of the dorsum and the flanks showing a dirty yellowish tint. Along the upper face of the mantle border the margin forms a very distinct grey edging line; inside it scattered roundish to slightly irregular chalk-white spots up to 2 mm in diameter are sparingly arranged. The rhinophore clubs and the gill leaves are brownish-grey.

Distribution

Type locality: anchorage off Noimini on the south coast of Timor, Indonesia, one specimen from a reef. The species is now known to range widely across coral reef habitats of the Indo-West Pacific.

Etymology

The specific epithet sibogae commemorates the Dutch survey vessel HNLMS Siboga, from which the type material was collected during the Siboga Expedition (1899-1900).

Remarks

Originally described as Chromodoris Sibogae. Following a revision of Chromodorididae the species was transferred to Doriprismatica; the parentheses in the author citation reflect this generic transfer.

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References

• Chromodoris Sibogae Bgh. n. sp., Bergh R. (1905). Die Opisthobranchiata der Siboga-expedition. https://doi.org/10.5962/bhl.title.11223
• 馬場菊太郎. (1988). 日本産ジボガウミウシ属2種の比較研究. 貝類学雑誌. 47(3): 158-166. https://doi.org/10.18941/venusjjm.47.3_158
• Doriprismatica sibogae, 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.
• Doriprismatica sibogae, Terrence Gosliner, Ángel Valdés and David Behrens. (2015). Nudibranch and Sea Slug Identification Indo-Pacific. New World Pubns Inc.