Hypselodoris maridadilus Rudman, 1977

Description

This species reaches about 20-40 mm in length. The body is bright yellow with a purple border to the mantle and foot, and bears five longitudinal purple lines on the dorsum that are loosely connected by indistinct violet transverse bands. The gills and rhinophores are bright orange-red. The body is relatively high, and the mantle widens anteriorly to give a spatulate appearance.

Distribution

Type locality: Bongoyo Island, off Kunduchi, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Widely distributed in the western Indian Ocean, with records from Kenya, South Africa, Mauritius, Réunion, the Red Sea, and the Arabian Sea to the Gulf of Oman.

Remarks

This species belongs to a group of yellow-bodied Hypselodoris with purple longitudinal lines and a purple mantle border. The similar western Pacific Hypselodoris whitei differs in having white-tipped rhinophores and white inner edges to the gills, whereas in H. maridadilus the gills and rhinophores are orange-red and lack white.

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References

• Hypselodoris maridadilus sp. nov.
• Hypselodoris maridadilus Rudman, 1977, 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