Felimare californiensis (Bergh, 1879)

Description

The body is dark blue to deep navy, with locally paler patches. Numerous small yellow spots are scattered over the dorsum, and a continuous blue band runs along the mantle margin. The rhinophores and gills are the same colour as the body. The mantle glands consist of four to six enlarged posterior glands and a single anterolateral pair on each side. Recorded body length reaches about 30 mm.

Distribution

Eastern Pacific. Type locality: California. The species ranges from Monterey Bay, California south through Punta Eugenia (Baja California Sur), the west coast of Mexico and the Gulf of California, to Peru.

Etymology

The specific epithet californiensis refers to the type locality, California.

Remarks

Originally described by Bergh as Chromodoris californiensis, the species was later transferred to Hypselodoris and is now placed in Felimare following a molecular phylogeny of the Chromodorididae. Felimare ghiselini (Bertsch, 1978) was later synonymised with this species.

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References

• Hypselodoris californiensis (Bergh, 1879), Gosliner T.M. & Johnson R.F. (1999). Phylogeny of Hypselodoris (Nudibranchia: Chromodorididae) with a review of the monophyletic clade of Indo-Pacific species, including descriptions of twelve new species. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 125: 1-114. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1096-3642.1999.tb00585.x
• Felimare californiensis, 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.
• Hoover C.A., Padula V., Schrödl M., Hooker Y. & Valdés Á. (2017). Integrative taxonomy of the Felimare californiensis and F. ghiselini species complex (Nudibranchia: Chromodorididae), with description of a new species from Peru. Journal of Molluscan Studies. 83(4): 461-475. https://doi.org/10.1093/mollus/eyx035
• Felimare californiensis, Behrens D.W., Hermosillo A., Fletcher K. & Jensen G.C. (2022). Nudibranchs & Sea Slugs of the Eastern Pacific. Molamarine.