AEOLIDIIDAE, Gray, 1827

Mead, A., Carlton, J. T., Griffiths, C. L. & Rius, M., 2011, Introduced and cryptogenic marine and estuarine species of South Africa, Journal of Natural History 45 (39 - 40), pp. 2463-2524 : 2495

Family AEOLIDIIDAE

Anteaeolidiella indica (Bergh, 1888) Cryptogenic (= Aeolidiella indica ; = Aeolidiella multicolor Macnae, 1954 ; = Aeolidiella saldanhensis Barnard, 1927 )

Another species probably transported by shipping globally, it now occurs in the Pacific (most records), Atlantic (apparently isolated occurrences in the Mediterranean, Brazil and Florida), and the Indian Ocean ( Mauritius, Tanzania and the Red Sea). Perhaps rooted in the Pacific, it may have been transported through the Indian Ocean to the Atlantic theatre. The first South African collections are those from Saldanha Bay, from where Barnard (1927) described this nudibranch as a new species, Aeolidiella saldanhensis . It was described again from South Africa, as another new species, Aeolidiella multicolor , by Macnae (1954). Gosliner and Griffiths (1981) established these and other synonymies and added additional South African records. The full South African range now extends from Saldanha Bay (west coast) to KwaZulu-Natal on the east coast. In South Africa, Anteaeolidiella indica feeds on the presumably native sea anemone Anthothoe chilensis (a species which itself may represent a complex or two or more taxa).