Pleurolidia juliae Burn, 1966

Location: Red Beach, Okinawa Island (East coast), Okinawa, Japan
Date: 2006/02/28
Length: 15mm
Depth: 10.0m
Water temperature: 20.0℃

Description

A narrow, elongate aeolid reaching about 30 mm. Ground colour blackish-brown, the dorsum scattered with fine yellowish-white to white dots and bearing a yellowish-white to white longitudinal midline stripe. The cerata are short, with bases matching the body ground colour and apices grading to yellowish-white or white. Rhinophores smooth, translucent white. Oral tentacles also smooth, with bases of body-colour and translucent white tips. Distinguished from the otherwise similar Phestilla lugubris (スミゾメミノウミウシ) by the presence of the white dorsal midline stripe.

Distribution

Indian Ocean and western Pacific. Records include Madagascar, Australia, Papua New Guinea, Indonesia, the Philippines, Palau and Japan. The type locality is Lord Howe Island, off New South Wales (Tasman Sea).

Etymology

The specific epithet juliae is a Latin feminine genitive form, honouring a person named Julia or Julie; the original paper does not state explicitly to whom the species is dedicated.

Remarks

Originally described in "Descriptions of Australian Eolidacea (Mollusca: Opisthobranchia). 4. The genera Pleurolidia, Fiona, Learchis and Cerberilla from Lord Howe Island" (Journal of the Malacological Society of Australia 1(10): 21-34, 1966). The genus Pleurolidia Burn, 1966 and the family Pleurolidiidae Burn, 1966 were erected in the same paper for this species, which was later treated within Aeolidiidae in a 1990 revision and most recently within Aeolidiidae sensu lato by Carmona et al. 2013.

Photographed by 今川郁

Description

Distribution

Etymology

Remarks

References

A Kindle field guide by the site author

Seasonality

Shooting Locations

Photos of Pleurolidia juliae

Similar Colors Nudibranchs

Academic Database