Chelidonura cf. castanea Yonow, 1994

Mehrotra, Rahul, A. Caballer Gutierrez, Manuel, M. Scott, Chad, Arnold, Spencer, Monchanin, Coline, Viyakarn, Voranop & Chavanich, Suchana, 2021, An updated inventory of sea slugs from Koh Tao, Thailand, with notes on their ecology and a dramatic biodiversity increase for Thai waters, ZooKeys 1042, pp. 73-188 : 73

publication ID

https://dx.doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1042.64474

publication LSID

lsid:zoobank.org:pub:9CF986D8-6A47-4E17-9A67-245C78FB8AFD

persistent identifier

https://treatment.plazi.org/id/8DA68F14-9290-5428-BC36-81B87685A82A

treatment provided by

ZooKeys by Pensoft

scientific name

Chelidonura cf. castanea Yonow, 1994
status

 

* Chelidonura cf. castanea Yonow, 1994 Figure 7E View Figure 7

Material examined.

Two specimens 62-74 mm, TT.

Ecology.

In soft sediment habitats outside the coral reef. Depth 22-26 m.

Distribution.

Chelidonura castanea is currently known only from the Maldives ( Yonow 1994). Unconfirmed sightings have also been made from Mozambique and Myanmar ( iNaturalist 2011; TSS 2020). Here representing a first record for Thai waters (but see below).

Remarks.

Specimens from Koh Tao differ from those originally described by lacking orange spots across the dorsum, instead having only two tiny orange spots on the anterior portion of the head, on either side of the mouth. Additionally, the body is uniformly deep reddish brown with a thin white line on the upper margin of the cephalic shield. In the larger specimen (74 mm), both orange spots and the white line were markedly less distinct. The presence and absence of yellow/orange spots in such Aglajids has been shown to be an unreliable character for species delimitations ( Turner and Wilson 2012). To date, C. castanea is only known from the Indian Ocean; however, a distribution from Thailand was recorded, without reference to any source, by Gosliner et al. (2008) but omitted in later versions ( Gosliner et al. 2018). Therefore, we hereby provide details of a similar species from the Gulf of Thailand waters as a first record.

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Mollusca

Class

Gastropoda

Order

Cephalaspidea

Family

Aglajidae

Genus

Chelidonura