Phyllodesmium lembehense Burghardt, Schrödl & Wägele, 2008

Description

A medium-sized Phyllodesmium reaching about 23 mm in body length (excluding cerata). The body is translucent white, with the right digestive glandular branch showing through as a brown band due to the zooxanthellae it contains. The cerata, 35-41 in number, are arranged in five mainly incomplete arches or rows on each body side. They are spatulate, arrowhead-shaped and only slightly flattened, broadening in the upper half. Their surface is covered with irregularly arranged nodules, with the nodulose margins of the cerata appearing slightly darker. The animal mimics the polyps of the host xeniid soft coral in colour and shape, hiding within the colony.

Live zooxanthellae (Symbiodinium) are retained inside the digestive gland branches within the cerata, supporting a solar-powered (photosymbiotic) lifestyle.

Distribution

Type locality: dive site "Awshuck", Lembeh Strait between Sulawesi and Lembeh Island, Indonesia (~0.3 m depth, August 2003). At the time of description the species was known only from Lembeh Strait.

Etymology

The specific epithet is a toponym referring to the type locality, the Lembeh Strait between Sulawesi and Lembeh Island, Indonesia. The original spelling lembehensis was later adjusted to the neuter form lembehense to agree with the genus.

Remarks

A specialist on octocorals of the family Xeniidae. Closely allied in ecology with other xeniid-feeding congeners — Phyllodesmium lizardense, Phyllodesmium jakobsenae, Phyllodesmium rudmani — and separated from them by combinations of ceratal shape, flattening, and nodule arrangement.

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References

• Phyllodesmium lembehense sp. nov., Burghardt I., Schrödl M. & Wägele H. (2008). Three new solar-powered species of the genus Phyllodesmium Ehrenberg, 1831 (Mollusca: Nudibranchia: Aeolidoidea) from the tropical Indo-Pacific, with analysis of their photosynthetic activity and notes on biology. Journal of Molluscan Studies. 74(3): 277-292.
• Phyllodesmium lembehensis, Terrence Gosliner, Ángel Valdés and David Behrens. (2015). Nudibranch and Sea Slug Identification Indo-Pacific. New World Pubns Inc.