Elysia coodgeensis Angas, 1864

Description

A small sacoglossan reaching about 14 mm in body length and 4.66 mm in width. The body is oblong-elongate, truncate posteriorly. In life the ground colour is olivaceous-greenish ("olivaceo-viridula") with scattered pale yellow spots. The parapodia are large and reflexed upward, edged with pale violet. The oral tentacles are fairly well developed and pale violet on the upper part. The eyes are in the normal position, behind the rhinophores on the dorsum. Angas's type was 14 mm long and 4.66 mm wide. He noted that the species occurs in groups of 40–50 individuals on green sea-lettuce (Ulva spp.) in shallow tide pools.

Distribution

South-eastern Australia (Tasman Sea). Type locality: Coodgee Bay (now Coogee, south of Sydney), New South Wales, based on a series collected by Angas on 1 July 1863. Angas observed the species crowded on green Ulva in shallow tide pools.

Etymology

The specific epithet is a Latinised geographical adjective derived from the type locality, Coodgee Bay (now Coogee, south of Sydney).

Remarks

Placed by Angas in Elysia, where it is still currently retained (the parentheses in the author citation reflect a brief generic transfer in earlier literature). Angas noted that the species is cryptic on green Ulva, so well-matched to its host alga that it is difficult to distinguish the animal from the plant.

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References

• Elysia coodgeensis 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.
• Burn R. (2006). A checklist and bibliography of the Opisthobranchia (Mollusca: Gastropoda) of Victoria and the Bass Strait area, south-eastern Australia. Museum Victoria Science Reports. 10: 1-42. https://doi.org/10.24199/j.mvsr.2006.10