Phyllidiopsis krempfi Pruvot-Fol, 1957

Yonow, Nathalie, 2012, Opisthobranchs from the western Indian Ocean, with descriptions of two new species and ten new records (Mollusca, Gastropoda), ZooKeys 197, pp. 1-130 : 57-58

Phyllidiopsis krempfi Pruvot-Fol, 1957 Fig. 26, Plate 75

Phyllidiopsis krempfi Pruvot-Fol, 1957: 120, figs. 41-49, pl. 1 figs. 7, 8 (Viet-Nam); Brunckhorst, 1993: 66, fig. 29E, pl. 8A (southwest Thailand); Domínguezet al. 2007: 101, figs. 1E-F, 9 (Papua New Guinea).

Material.

Maldives: 35 mm (SH-49), Fulidhoo Reef, Felidhoo Atoll, 21 April 1991, leg. S Harwood. - Sri Lanka: 40 × 20 mm pres., near Pigeon Island, Nilaveli, Trincomalee, 11 March 1995, leg. SG Buttress & RC Anderson.

Description.

Sri Lankan and Maldives specimens bear large compound tubercles centrally, as well as on extended mantle skirt. Pair of black lines meets in V-shape in front of rhinophores (Fig. 26A) and extends to margin; posteriorly, they normally do not meet but bend outwards near the level of the anus and extend to the mantle margin. Traces of black in between central tubercles, as well as spots and streaks on skirt. Anus protrudes in preserved specimens, located on edge of last tubercular cluster. Gills grey, fused oral tentacles with black tips (Fig. 26B). Digestive anatomy typical of genus (Fig. 26C).

Distribution.

These records from the Maldives and Sri Lanka are the first records of this species for the western Indian Ocean; it is better known in the western Pacific, where it is larger and more complex: the tubercles become so compound that the longitudinal black lines are almost lost. In the Indian Ocean, it is one of the larger pink species with numerous compound tubercles bearing black lines which always meet in a V-shape in front of the rhinophores.