Trapania tora Gosliner & Fahey, 2008

Description

Body 6–7 mm long, elongate and convex, lacking a notal margin. Widest at the branchial region. The dorsum bears raised rounded tubercles of irregular size. Oral tentacles are relatively short, cylindrical with rounded apices. Rhinophores are long with 3–4 lamellae; the stalk is elongate and smooth and the apex is bulbous and elongate. Extra-rhinophoral appendages are elongate and thin. Extra-branchial appendages are curved and longer than the extra-rhinophoral appendages. Gill of three finely divided, highly pinnate branches.
The body is white with most of the dorsum covered in yellow pigment except for areas of brown pigment arranged in scale-like patches. The patches lie along the sides of the head and form a bifurcating line on the mid-dorsum behind the rhinophores; they then encircle the gill and extend along the sides of the anterior surface of the foot. The white dorsal lumps lie within the yellow pigment and have white apices. Anterior foot tentacles are white. Oral tentacles are brown basally with a yellowish tip. Extra-rhinophoral and extra-branchial appendages are white with a yellow line along the length. Rhinophores are translucent white and the finely divided gill leaves are yellow-white.

Distribution

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

Etymology

Verbatim from the original description (Gosliner & Fahey, 2008, p.81):

The specific name tora is from the Latin word for a round elevation, protuberance or bulge. This is in reference to the rounded tubercles found on the dorsum 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. Externally similar to T. brunnea, T. toddi and T. reticulata in possessing reticulate brown patches with white splotches; but in T. tora "the yellow colour ... is found in solid patches between the symmetrical brown reticulated patches. The yellow colour on T. tora also extends in lines up the length of each dorsal process" (p.82). Like T. palmula and T. armilla it bears dorsal tubercles, "but in T. palmula the tubercles are small while in T. armilla and T. tora they are large and rounded" (p.82).

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References

• Trapania tora 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 tora, Terrence Gosliner, Ángel Valdés and David Behrens. (2018). Nudibranch and Sea Slug Identification Indo-Pacific 2nd Edition. New World Pubns Inc.