Phyllidiella rudmani Brunckhorst, 1993 Fig. 23Plate 70

Phyllidiella rudmani Brunckhorst, 1993: 62; fig. 29d, pl. 7C, D (SW Thailand + Pacific); Yonow 1996: 504, fig. 11A-G (Maldives).

Material.

Maldives: 10 × 3 mm alive (NY-11a), Nakatcha Tila, North Malé Atoll, 20 m depth, 12 May 1990, leg. N Yonow.

Description/Distribution.

This juvenile specimen has identical marking to adult specimens, white with two black lines; dorsum completely smooth, tubercles not yet developed and spicules clearly visible in skin (Fig. 23A). Ventrally, minute tentacles same shape as in adults (Yonow 1996, figs. 11C, D), but no black pigment (Fig. 23B); gills and crevice between foot and hyponotum still black. Phyllidiella rudmani has a wide distribution from the eastern Indian Ocean to Japan in the western Pacific; it is currently only known from the Maldives in the central Indian Ocean.