Trapania miltabrancha Gosliner & Fahey, 2008

Description

Body 10 mm long, short, squat and convex, lacking a notal margin. Widest at the branchial region. Oral tentacles are relatively short and cylindrical with rounded apices. Rhinophores are relatively short with nine lamellae; stalk is short and the club is the same thickness. Extra-rhinophoral appendages are relatively short, stout and curved. Extra-branchial appendages are stout and curved posteriorly. Gill of three bipinnate branches.
The background colour is white with a complex pattern of dense patches of brown pigment punctuated with dots of the white background colour. Overlaying the brown patches are swirls of red. The oral tentacles bear the same brown and red-flecked pattern as the dorsum, with white tips. Extra-rhinophoral and extra-branchial appendages are white with pale pink apices. Rhinophores have white stalks and blotchy black clubs. Gill leaves are pale red.

Distribution

Known only from Bali, Indonesia (type locality: Tulamben).

Etymology

Verbatim from the original description (Gosliner & Fahey, 2008, p.88):

The specific name miltabrancha is from the Greek word meaning 'red gill' to describe the pale red gill leaves of this species.

Remarks

Described as one of 16 new Indo-Pacific Trapania species in Gosliner, T.M. & Fahey, S.J. 2008 Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 152: 53-111. The authors stated: "Externally, this species has some colour similarities to Trapania brunnea, both species having brown reticulate patches on the dorsum. But the two species differ in that T. miltabrancha has a short, stocky body and large, thick extra-branchial and extra-rhinophoral appendages ... However, the colour pattern on T. miltabrancha includes swirls of red, which T. reticulata does not have" (p.88-89).

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References

• Trapania sp. 314 (M. Miller 2001, Sea Slug Forum), Rudman W.B. (1998-2010). Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. http://www.seaslugforum.net/
• Trapania miltabrancha sp. nov., Gosliner T.M. & Fahey S.J. (2008). Systematics of Trapania (Mollusca: Nudibranchia: Goniodorididae) with descriptions of 16 new species. Systematics and Biodiversity. 6(1): 53-98. https://doi.org/10.1017/s1477200007002587
• Trapania miltabrancha, Terrence Gosliner, Ángel Valdés and David Behrens. (2015). Nudibranch and Sea Slug Identification Indo-Pacific. New World Pubns Inc.
• アカマダラツガルウミウシ（新称）, 中野理枝. (2018). 日本のウミウシ. 文一総合出版.
• Paz-Sedano S., Moles J., Smirnoff D., Gosliner T.M. & Pola M. (2024). A combined phylogenetic strategy illuminates the evolution of Goniodorididae nudibranchs (Mollusca, Gastropoda, Heterobranchia). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 192: 107990. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ympev.2023.107990