Trapania tigger Smirnoff, Donohoo & Gosliner, 2022

MORPHOLOGY

Living animal (Fig. 2H) is 12 mm. Entire body is mottled pale tan with darker brown patches and a few small opaque white spots over the entire surface of the body. Posterior portion of the body has alternating bands of light and dark pigment, while the middle and anterior of the body is characterized by discrete light and dark patches of pigment. Rhinophores are thick, club-shaped with about eight lamellae and a pointed tip. The small gill has a central, branching stalk flanked by two smaller branches. The extra-branchial and extra-rhinophoral appendages are thick, stocky and have a slight bulge near the base. The anterior margins of the foot extend laterally as elongate appendages. Oral tentacles are short. Posterior foot is bluntly rounded and less pointed than typical of Trapania.

DISTRIBUTION

Known only from Mabini, Luzon, the Philippines.

ETYMOLOGY

Trapania tigger is named for its resemblance to Tigger, a fictional character illustrated by E. H. Shepard from the Winnie-the-Pooh series of stories (Milne, 1928). It is a noun in apposition.

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References

• ツガルウミウシ属の1種 4, 中野理枝. (2004). 本州のウミウシ. ラトルズ.
• ヨコシマツガルウミウシ（新称）, 中野理枝. (2018). 日本のウミウシ. 文一総合出版.
• Trapania sp. 8, Terrence Gosliner, Ángel Valdés and David Behrens. (2018). Nudibranch and Sea Slug Identification Indo-Pacific 2nd Edition. New World Pubns Inc.
• ヨコシマツガルウミウシ, 小野篤司 & 加藤昌一. (2020). 新版 ウミウシ. 誠文堂新光社.
• Trapania tigger sp. nov., Smirnoff D.S., Donohoo S.A. & Gosliner T.M. (2022). Extra-branchial processes manifest extra diversity: systematics of the genus Trapania (Nudibranchia: Goniodorididae) and nine new species descriptions. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 196(1): 270-313. https://doi.org/10.1093/zoolinnean/zlac009
• 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