Goniobranchus loringi (Angas, 1864)

Description

A slender chromodorid reaching about 24 mm in body length and 5 mm in width. The body is moderately thick, the posterior end pointed but not greatly elongated. In life the ground colour is intense violet-blue with scattered rose-coloured spots. The mantle margin is bordered by an orange band, on which spots of the same colour are arranged in pairs at regular intervals. The gills resemble those of the preceding species (G. bennetti), but the rhinophores are olivaceous in tone. Angas's type material consists of two specimens, 24 mm long and 5 mm wide: one collected at Clark Island on 4 October, and the other at Watson's Bay on 19 December, both within Port-Jackson.

Distribution

South-eastern Australia. Type locality: Clark Island and Watson's Bay (within Port-Jackson Harbour), New South Wales, based on two specimens collected by Angas.

Etymology

Named for a Mr Loring, presumably a contemporary collector or correspondent in the Sydney natural-history community; Angas does not state an explicit dedication.

Remarks

Originally placed by Angas in Goniodoris. Angas distinguished the species from G. bennetti by (1) its smaller size, (2) thinner body, (3) ground colour more blue than rose-violet, (4) larger and more regularly arranged spots, and (5) olivaceous rhinophores. Later transferred to Goniobranchus; the parentheses in the author citation reflect this generic transfer.

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References

• Goniodoris loringi 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.
• Goniobranchus loringi, 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.