Elysia mercieri
(Pruvot-Fol, 1930)

Order: SACOGLOSSA
Superfamily: ELYSIOIDEA
Family: Elysiidae

PHOTO

Heron Island, intertidal [Great Barrier Reef, Australia], 7 mm long, January 1994. Photo: Julie Marshall

This species was very briefly described by Pruvot-Fol, from New Caledonia, as green with darker green spots, the edge of the parapodia bearing up to four pairs of dendritic papillae. Pruvot-Fol considered the parapodial papillae to be sufficiently distinct to erect a new genus . Carlson & Hoff (1978) report a similar, very small species (max. length 6.5mm), from Guam. The only difference is that their specimens had only 2 pairs of parapodial papillae. As Pruvot-Fol noted that the most anterior pair of papillae in her specimen were very small, it is most probable that the Guam specimens are conspecific. There is a good photo in Atsushi Ono's book (p47) from Kerama Ids.

Reference:
• Pruvot-Fol, A. (1930). Diagnose provisoires (incomplètes) des espèces nouvelles et liste provisoire des mollusques nudibranches recueillis par Mme. A. Pruvot-Fol en nouvelle Calédonie (Ile des Pins). Bulletin Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle Paris, series 2, 2(2): 229-232.

Authorship details
Rudman, W.B., 2001 (October 23) Elysia mercieri (Pruvot-Fol, 1930). [In] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/factsheet/elysmerc

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