Hypselodoris maculosa ( Pease, 1871 )

Tibiriçá, Yara, Pola, Marta & Cervera, Juan Lucas, 2017, Astonishing diversity revealed: an annotated and illustrated inventory of Nudipleura (Gastropoda: Heterobranchia) from Mozambique, Zootaxa 4359 (1), pp. 1-133 : 36

Hypselodoris maculosa ( Pease, 1871)

( Figure 10 F–I )

Material examined. Twenty specimens. MB28-004433, ZRP, 26 May 2010, 2m, 21mm; MB28-004567, ZRP, 0 7 Jun. 2012, 2m, 21mm; MB28-004714, ZT, 43m, 16mm; MB28-0 0 5022, ZRP, 0 4 Aug. 2015, 1m, 9mm; MB28- 0 0 4419, ZA51, 26 May 2010, 10m, 22mm; MB28-004670, ZWH, 10 May 2013, ZWH, 16m, 11mm; MB28- 0 0 4671, ZWH, 13 May 2013, 16m, 13mm; CASIZ 223 316, POD, 11 May 2014, 17mm, 16m; MHN-YT1254, 12 May 2014, POB, 16m, 7mm; CASIZ 223317, NKA, 0 9 Jun. 2014, 12m, 26mm; MB28-004897, 3spcs., NKA, 0 9 Jun. 2014, 12m, 12–24mm; MB28-00 4902, NKA, 20 Jun 2014, 20m, 28mm; MB28-004733, ZRP, 0 8 Sept. 2013, 0.5m, 28mm; MB28-004786, ZRP, 18 Dec. 2013, 0.5m, 19mm; MHN-YT1054, ZRP, 18 Dec. 2013, 0.5m, 22mm; MB28-004790, ZRP, 0 5 Jan. 2014, 0.3m, 23mm; MB28-004842, POB, 0 9 May 2014, 8mm, 18m; MB28-004914, NK, 15 Jun. 2014, 12m, 14mm; MB28-004953, ZA51, 0 4 Apr. 2015, 10m, 24mm.

Habitats. Subtropical tidal reefs, rocky reefs and tropical coral reefs.

Occurrences. Ponta do Ouro, Zavora, Nacala, Nuarro and Vamizi Island.

Geographic distribution. Indo-west, central Pacific. French Polynesia ( Pease 1871), Guam ( Carlson & Hoff 2003), Japan, Palau, Marshall Islands, New Zealand (Gosliner et al. 2008), Australia (Nimbs & Smith 2016), Philippines ( Debelius 1996), Thailand ( Mehrotra & Scott 2015), India ( Apte 2009; Bhave & Apte 2013), British Indian Ocean Territory ( Yonow et al. 2002), Red Sea, Tanzania, South Africa ( Debelius 1996), Mauritius (Gosliner et al. 2008) and Mozambique ( King & Fraser 2014).

Remarks. We found three-colour morphs in Mozambique. Morphotype 1 ( Fig. 10 F–G ) had a distinctive purple-blue margin on the head and posterior end of the mantle with several white and dark bluish spots. The background colour varied from light-cream ( Fig. 10 F ) to almost orange ( Fig. 10 G ). Morphotype 2 ( Fig. 10 H ) had an orange margin around the whole mantle edge, as well as white and purple spots. Morphotype 3 ( Fig. 10 I ) lacked purple spots on the anterior mantle margin. The orange outer band is wider than morphotype 2. The evenly-spaced purple dots on the dorsum are larger than the other morphotypes. It is not clear if these morphotypes are mere colour variations or form part of a species complex. Gosliner et al. (2015) suggest that the morphotype 3 is a separate species.

Figures

FIGURE 10. A, Hypselodoris fucata (MB28-004792). B, Hypselodoris ghardaqana (MB28-004944). C–D, Hypselodoris infucata (MB28-004470 and MB28-005084). E, Hypselodoris kanga (MB28-004536). F–I, Hypselodoris maculosa (MB28- 004714, MB28-005022, MHN-YT1054 and MB28-004902, respectively). J, Hypselodoris maridadilus (MB28-004860). K, Hypselodoris nigrolineata (MB28-005007).L, Hypselodoris nigrostriata (MB28-005085).