Chelidonura sandrana Rudman, 1973

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 : 6

Chelidonura sandrana Rudman, 1973 Plates 6, 7

Chelidonura sandrana Rudman, 1973a: 208, figs. 4, 5 (Zanzibar); Yonow 1994b: 100, figs. 2E, 4A, B (Maldives); Yonow et al. 2002: 835, fig. 2b (Chagos); Yonow 2008: 80 (Gulf of Eilat).

Chelidonura babai Gosliner, 1988: 91, fig. 10 (Aldabra, Seychelles).

Material.

Maldives: 3 mm pres., Maayafushi, Ari Atoll, shallow water in lagoon, February 1995, leg. J Hinterkircher; photos of two individuals, 1986-1994, J Hinterkircher; 7 mm (5 mm pres., "all black"), Maayafushi Channel, Ari Atoll, 7-17 m depth on sandy slope, 12 October 1994, leg. RC Anderson & SG Buttress.

Remarks.

The collecting notes state that there were "plenty of aglajids, all completely black" in Maayafushi lagoon, up to approximately 10 mm in length, and it is very common in the Maldives (Yonow 1994). This species is recorded throughout the western Indian Ocean as well as in the northern Red Sea, and its extensive variability of colouration is now well known; both specimens demonstrate the all-black colouration (Plate 6) while an additional photo (from another locality in the same atoll) depicts an individual which is black with white marbling, but without the orange spots (Plate 7). Turner and Wilson (2011) have shown that the range of colour morphs show no breeding differences; Chelidonura tsurugensis Baba & Abe, 1959 may be an older name (Yonow in prep.).