Aplysia parvula
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Familia: Aplysiidae
Genus: Aplysia
Name
Aplysia parvula Guilding in Mörch, 1863 – Wikispecies link – Pensoft Profile
- Aplysia spuria Krauss. – Macnae 1955[1], 235, figs.1d, 2d, 3d, 6a, b (South Africa).
- Aplysia parvula. – Gosliner 1987[2]: 46, fig. 24 (South Africa); Yonow and Hayward 1991[3]: 5, figs. 4E, 5D (Mauritius); Yonow 2008[4]: 98 (Red Sea); Apte 2009[5]: 165, fig. 1h (Laccadive Islands).
- Aplysia fasciata. – Yonow 1994a[6]: 104, fig. 4G (Maldives); Yonow 2000[7]: 94, fig. 3, plate 7 (Red Sea) (non Aplysia fasciata Poiret).
- Aplysia cf. parvula. – Yonow et al. 2002[8]: 837, figs. 2d, 3a, b (Chagos).
- Aplysia sp. – Yonow 2008[4]: 100 (Red Sea).
Material
Pale form: Socotra: 10 mm × 5 mm pres. (IT-084, N-171), Rhiy di-Irisal, SE site, 2-8 m depth, 24.II.1999, leg. N Simões. – La Réunion, photographs of numerous individuals http://seaslugs.free.fr/nudibranche/a_intro.htm.
Dark form: Maldives: two specimens approx. 14 mm in length, Hulhulé Island, North Malé Atoll, 12 m depth on orange encrusting sponge on outer reef, 30 July 1995, leg. RC Anderson & SG Buttress (“dark brown with numerous tiny white dots, brown tending to orange, greyish white at margins”); two specimens both 14 mm, Old Shark Point, Thilafalhu Reef, North Malé Atoll, 16 m depth, 18 November 1995, leg. RC Anderson & SG Buttress (“dark brown with numerous fine pale dots; edges of [parapodia] and tentacles pale”); 20 mm (MDV/AB/96/13), Fulidhoo Channel, Felidhoo Atoll, 9 m depth, 07 May 1996, leg. RC Anderson & SG Buttress (“no white spots”). – La Réunion, photographs of several individuals http://seaslugs.free.fr/nudibranche/a_intro.htm. – Tanzania: photo of one individual, Mafia Island, shallow water, May 2009, A de Villiers.
Description/Remarks
The dark colour form is common in the Red Sea and western Indian Ocean (Yonow 1994a[6], Yonow et al. 2002[8], Yonow 2008[4]) and also occurs in the western Pacific (Gosliner et al. 2008[9]), albeit less frequently. The pale Socotra specimen is well relaxed and preserved: the body is cream coloured with black edging to the rhinophores, oral tentacles, foot, and parapodia. Both colour forms are small, and one is the reverse colour pattern of the other. Although pale Aplysia parvula are recorded to grow to 120 mm (Marshall and Willan 1999[10]), the largest size recorded for the dark colour formis the Maldives specimen listed above at 20 mm. Consistent differences occur in the colour patterns: Aplysia parvula sensu strictu is usually pale green or greenish brown with white marbling and spots, and dark purple-to-black margins on the tentacles and parapodia (Plate 10). The black form is very dark brown or black, sometimes with white speckles, and with pale pink or violet edging to the parapodia and tentacles (Plate 11). The pale form is found in shallow tidal areas with seaweed, while the dark form is found on coral reefs in more exposed areas. Several other colour patterns have been illustrated on the La Réunion website.
The radula of the Socotra specimen has the formula 29 (+2) × 4.7.1.7.4. It is comparable in formula and size to those of the dark form previously examined from the Red Sea (26 (+1) × 4.6.1.6.4: Yonow 2000[7]) and Chagos (26 (+3) × 3.6.1.6.3: Yonow et al. 2002[8]), although it must be stressed that the radulae are not very good diagnostic features for differentiating between species of Aplysia. The shell is also similar in both forms but again, it is variable and therefore not a particularly useful character for determining species of aplysiids.
Taxon Treatment
- Yonow, N; 2012: Opisthobranchs from the western Indian Ocean, with descriptions of two new species and ten new records (Mollusca, Gastropoda) ZooKeys, 197: 1-130. doi
Other References
- ↑ Macnae W (1955) On four species of the genus Aplysia common in South Africa. Annals of the Natal Museum 13 (2): 223-241.
- ↑ Gosliner T (1987) Nudibranchs of Southern Africa. A guide to Opisthobranch molluscs of Southern Africa. EJ Brill, Leiden, Netherlands, 136 pp.
- ↑ Yonow N, Hayward P (1991) Opisthobranches de l’lle Maurice, avec la description de deux espèces nouvelles (Mollusca: Opisthobranchia). Revue française d’aquariologie herpétologie 18 (1): 1-30.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Yonow N (2008) Sea Slugs of the Red Sea. Pensoft Publishers, Sofia-Moscow, 304 pp.
- ↑ Apte D (2009) Opisthobranch fauna of Lakshadweep Islands, India, with 52 new records to Lakshadweep and 40 new records to India: part 1. Journal Bombay Natural History Society 106 (2): 162-175.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Yonow N (1994a) Opisthobranchs from the Maldive Islands, including descriptions of seven new species (Mollusca: Gastropoda). Revue française d’aquariologie herpétologie 20 (4): 97-130.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Yonow N (2000) Red Sea Opisthobranchia 4: The orders Cephalaspidea, Anaspidea, Notaspidea, and Nudibranchia: Dendronotacea and Aeolidacea. Fauna of Arabia 18: 87-131.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 Yonow N, Anderson R, Buttress S (2002) Opisthobranch molluscs from the Chagos Archipelago, Central Indian Ocean. Journal of Natural History 36: 831-882. doi: 10.1080/00222930110039161
- ↑ Gosliner T, Behrens D, Valdés A (2008) Indo-Pacific Nudibranchs and Sea Slugs. A Field guide to the world’s most diverse fauna. Sea Challengers Natural History Books, Washington, U.S.A., 425 pp.
- ↑ Marshall J, Willan R (1999) Nudibranchs of Heron Island, Great Barrier Reef. A survey of the Opisthobranchia (sea slugs) of Heron and Wistari Reefs. Backhuys Publishers, Leiden, Netherlands, 257 pp.
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