Glossodoris pallida (Rüppell & Leuckart, 1830)

Description

The body is opaline white, with the dorsum overlaid by milky-white blotches. The mantle and foot margins, together with the eight pinnate gills, are bright sulphur-yellow. Externally the species is very similar to Glossodoris buko, with which it was long conflated before integrative work separated the cryptic complex; the two are distinguished chiefly by mantle-margin colour and internal anatomy.

Distribution

East Africa and the Red Sea. Type locality: El-Tor on the Sinai Peninsula, Red Sea. The name G. pallida was for many years applied broadly across the Indo-Pacific, but a recent integrative revision has restricted it sensu stricto to the Red Sea and adjacent East African waters; western Pacific populations have been referred to Glossodoris buko and related species.

Etymology

The specific epithet pallida is the Latin feminine of pallidus, "pale", in reference to the opaline ground colour.

Remarks

The original describers noted that their field notes for this species had been lost, and that their account was reconstructed from the colour plate together with a few spirit-preserved specimens.

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References

• Doris pallida, Rüppell E. & Leuckart F.S. (1828-1830). Atlas zu der Reise im nördlichen Afrika von Eduard Rüppell. Erste Abtheilung. Zoologie, Neue wirbellose Thiere des Rothen Meers. Frankfurt am Main: H.L. Brönner. iv + 47 pp., 12 pls.
• Glossodoris pallida (Ruppell & Leuckart, 1828), Rudman W.B. (1986). The Chromodorididae (Opisthobranchia: Mollusca) of the Indo-West Pacific: the genus Glossodoris Ehrenberg (= Casella, H. & A. Adams). Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 86(2): 101-184.
• Glossodoris pallida, 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.