Bornella simplex Eliot, 1904

Pola, Marta, Rudman, William B. & Gosliner, Terrence M., 2009, Systematics and preliminary phylogeny of Bornellidae (Mollusca: Nudibranchia: Dendronotina) based on morphological characters with description of four new species, Zootaxa 1975, pp. 1-57 : 16

Bornella simplex Eliot, 1904

Bornella simplex Eliot, 1904: 103 –104, pl. 4, fig. 5c.

Material examined: No specimens have been recognized as this species since its original description.

Remarks: Bornella simplex is different from the rest of the species of the genus in having short and simple anterior tentacles. Eliot (1904) described this species from a 12 mm specimen from East Coast of Zanzibar. He said that the animal was transparent with an orange network on the back but without orange rings on the tips of the dorsolateral processes. He also described the rhinophore sheaths as bearing six short digitations and a larger rounded knob behind. The remaining description is poorly detailed and the reproductive system was not described. Thus, the diagnostic feature for this species is the short and simple oral tentacle, but in his original description, Eliot stated that this character could be a monstrosity since is not uncommon in nudibranchs for external processes to remain undeveloped. No picture of the animal or type specimen is available. No records of this species have been found since the original description. The validity of this species cannot be determined on the available information.