Produnga rubropunctata (Edmunds, 1969)
- Location
- Red Beach, Okinawa Island (East coast), Okinawa, Japan
- Date
- 2013/04/21
- Length
- 10mm
- Depth
- 4.0m
- Water temperature
- 22.0℃
Description
The body is a translucent greyish brown densely covered dorsally with white and brown speckles. The cerata are large in proportion to the body, each with two tiers of small tubercles and a bulbous distal tip. The brown digestive gland inside the cerata swells just below the cnidosac. On the upper portion of each ceras, three bands run in sequence — yellow, blue, and yellow — and the blue band carries a few small reddish-purple spots. The rhinophores share the body colour, are densely covered with small papillae, and bear the same fine white and brown speckling. Maximum recorded body length is about 15 mm.Distribution
The type locality is Oyster Bay, Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania. At the time of the original description the species was known only from a single juvenile (4 mm long) collected among roots of the seagrass Cymodocea ciliata. It has since been recorded from Heron Island in Queensland, Australia, and from Japan (including Amami-Ōshima), giving a range that extends across the Indo-West Pacific.Etymology
The specific epithet combines Latin ruber ("red") and punctatus ("dotted"), meaning "dotted with red," in reference to the reddish-purple spots scattered along the blue band on the cerata.Remarks
Originally described as Eubranchus rubropunctatus Edmunds, 1969, and later assigned to the genus Produnga Martynov, 1998. Recent phylogenetic re-evaluation of eubranchid nudibranchs has reinforced Produnga as a valid genus, with this species standing as its type. The species has long been confused with the Indo-West Pacific Eubranchus mandapamensis (Rao, 1968), though current taxonomy treats them as distinct.References
- Eubranchus rubropunctatus n.sp., Edmunds M. (1969). Opisthobranchiate Mollusca from Tanzania. I. Eolidacea (Eubranchidae and Aeolidiidae). Proceedings of the Malacological Society of London. 38: 451-469.
- エウブランクス・ルブロプンクタートゥス, 中野理枝. (2004). 本州のウミウシ. ラトルズ.
- Eubranchus mandapamensis, Terrence Gosliner, Ángel Valdés and David Behrens. (2015). Nudibranch and Sea Slug Identification Indo-Pacific. New World Pubns Inc.
- ツノトゲホリミノウミウシ*(新称), 中野理枝, 朝倉知子, 池田紫, 石川雅教, 今本淳, 岩瀬南美, 西田和記, 堀江諒, 山田久子 & 渡井久美. (2017). 奄美大島北部海域における後鰓類相の調査報告. Kuroshio Biosphere. 13: 1-18 + 6 pls.
- ツノトゲホリミノウミウシ（改称）, 中野理枝. (2018). 日本のウミウシ. 文一総合出版.
- Eubranchus mandapamensis, Terrence Gosliner, Ángel Valdés and David Behrens. (2018). Nudibranch and Sea Slug Identification Indo-Pacific 2nd Edition. New World Pubns Inc.
- Produnga Martynov, 1998, reinstated [type species P. rubropunctata (Edmunds, 1969), Korshunova T., Fletcher K. & Martynov A. (2025). The endless forms are the most differentiated—how taxonomic pseudo-optimization masked natural diversity and evolution: the nudibranch case. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 204(4): zlaf057. https://doi.org/10.1093/zoolinnean/zlaf057
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, Produnga rubropunctata, is included in the book.
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Academic Database
Sea slug observation data is available in international marine biodiversity databases.