Gymnodoris plebeia (Bergh, 1877)

Description

A gymnodoridid about 3 cm long. The dorsal ground colour is light olive-brown-grey, with the whole surface covered by countless small, flattened, indistinct tubercles. On the midline in front of the rhinophores stands a larger tubercle, with several smaller ones on the mantle margin. The rhinophore-leaf rim is similarly grey with white tips. The seven bipinnate gills are all of about the same size, and the inside of each gill plume is blackish-grey. The oral tube and the foot sole are yellowish-white. The form is fairly stout and somewhat laterally compressed. Oral tentacles appear to be entirely absent.

Distribution

Type locality: Aibukit, Palau Islands, western Pacific.

Etymology

The specific epithet plebeia is the feminine of Latin plebeius ("of the common people, ordinary, plain"), a descriptive epithet alluding to the unadorned, unremarkable appearance of the species.

Remarks

Originally placed in Trevelyana and later transferred to Gymnodoris; the parentheses in the author citation reflect this transfer.

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References

• Trevelyana plebeia Bgh. n. sp., Bergh R. (1877). Malacologische Untersuchungen. In: Semper C. (ed.), Reisen im Archipel der Philippinen. II. Wissenschaftliche Resultate. Bd. II, Heft XI: 429-494, Taf. LIV-LVII. Wiesbaden: C.W. Kreidel's Verlag.
• Gymnodoris sp. 2, Terrence Gosliner, Ángel Valdés and David Behrens. (2018). Nudibranch and Sea Slug Identification Indo-Pacific 2nd Edition. New World Pubns Inc.
• Gymnodoris plebeia (Bergh, 1877), SOUZA-CANAL J.D. & VALDÉS Á. (2025). The genus Gymnodoris Stimpson, 1855 (Mollusca, Nudibranchia) in New Caledonia, with descriptions of eleven new species. Zootaxa. 5710(1): 1-73. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5710.1.1