Diversidoris flava (Eliot, 1904)

Yonow, Nathalie, 2018, Red Sea Opisthobranchia 5: new species and new records of chromodorids from the Red Sea (Heterobranchia, Nudibranchia, Chromodorididae), ZooKeys 770, pp. 9-42 : 10-11

Diversidoris flava (Eliot, 1904) Plate 3

Chromodoris flava Eliot, 1904: 399 (Zanzibar).

Noumea flava - Rudman 1986c: 379, figs 1-4, 17 (GBR, Australia); Yonow 2008: 61, 199 (Red Sea).

Material.

Sha’ab steel tank, Hurghada, Egypt, 01 Aug 2009, 35 m depth on sand, one specimen 4.5 × 2.5 mm (preserved), leg. and photographs S Kahlbrock; photographs only, vicinity of Hurghada, Egypt, 08 Nov 2013, 13 July 2015, S Kahlbrock .

Description.

This species is unmistakable with its lemon yellow body bordered by a deep red line along the margin (Plate 3 ). The rhinophores and unipinnate gills are also lemon yellow. The tiny specimen was damaged, and missing most of its right rhinophore. The left rhinophore bears 12 lamellae, the edges of which are opaque white in life.

The mantle margin of the preserved specimen is of uniform thickness, as is its edge despite the implications of the red line along the margin in life, which is thicker at intervals in the photographs.

Remarks.

Diversidoris flava was originally described in Noumea but it has been shown by Johnson and Gosliner (2012) that it belongs to the genus Diversidoris , separated from Noumea (= Verconia ; see Remarks below for Verconia sudanica ).

Distribution.

This is the first specimen record of Diversidoris flava in the Red Sea; it was previously recorded by a series of photographs also from Eilat in the northern Red Sea no earlier than 2005 (Eilat, Yonow 2008: 199; http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/21083). The distribution of this somewhat uncommon species is throughout the Indo-Pacific Ocean; its recent arrival in the Red Sea may be due to shipping.

Figures

Plate 3. Diversidoris flava (Eliot, 1904), photograph S Kahlbrock.