Niparaya regiscorona (Bertsch, 1972)
- Location
- Red Beach, Okinawa Island (East coast), Okinawa, Japan
- Date
- 2018/05/09
- Length
- 4mm
- Depth
- 12.0m
- Water temperature
- 23.0℃
Description
A small head-shield slug reaching about 5 mm in body length. Background colour is pale to medium brown, with the whole body scattered with whitish to greyish-yellow rounded pustules. The cephalic shield bears a thin translucent velum along its front edge, while the rear of the posterior shield carries a small, three-pointed crown-like projection — the diagnostic autapomorphy that gives the species its name. The anterior and posterior margins of the body and the edges of the parapodial flaps are dotted with small black and white spots; the sole bears scattered brown spots. The sensory bristles are reduced and not visible without magnification. The caudal lobes are symmetrical, rounded and flat, and the parapodia are reduced. The internal shell is calcified, concave and tightly constricted.Distribution
Originally described from Bahía de las Cruces, Baja California Sur, Mexico. Subsequently recorded broadly across the tropical Indo-West Pacific, including Hawaii, the Marshall Islands, and the Philippines.Etymology
The specific epithet regiscorona is Latin for "king's crown", referring to the crown-like projection at the rear of the posterior shield. The genus name Niparaya is taken from the Pericú language of the indigenous people of southern Baja California, meaning "creator of all" and naming the principal deity of Pericú mythology — together with the specific epithet the binomial reads as a metaphorical "crowned god".References
- Aglaja regiscorona, Terrence Gosliner, Ángel Valdés and David Behrens. (2015). Nudibranch and Sea Slug Identification Indo-Pacific. New World Pubns Inc.
- Andrea Zamora-Silva and Manuel António E. Malaquias Molecular phylogeny of the Aglajidae head-shield sea slugs (Heterobranchia: Cephalaspidea): new evolutionary lineages revealed and proposal of a new classification Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2017
Featured in this book
Terrence Gosliner, Ángel Valdés and David Behrens. (2018). Nudibranch and Sea Slug Identification Indo-Pacific 2nd Edition. New World Pubns Inc.
New World Publications
This species, Niparaya regiscorona, is included in the book.
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Photos of Niparaya regiscorona
Same Genus Nudibranchs
Similar Colors Nudibranchs
Academic Database
Sea slug observation data is available in international marine biodiversity databases.