Re: Odontoglaja guamensis from South Africa

Dear Colin,
Thanks for the size correction. Some species seem to be very variable in colour while others seem to have a very constant colour pattern. That's why I encourage photos of species which we seem to have plenty of examples on the Forum. It gives us an opportunity to see a species in its entirety. One warning I should give is there is always the possibility that I have got it wrong. In many cases, the only way to be really sure is to have a look at the anatomy.

As an example, I was once investigating some little bright yellow chromodorids in southeastern Australia which live on a bright yellow sponge. I thought there was only one species, but when I was preparing a description of what I thought was the one species I noticed that some specimens had gone dark brown, almost black, in preservative, while the rest had just lost their yellow colour and were translucent white. Luckily I decided to check the anatomy of both types and found that there were indeed two species. At the back of my mind I always have these two species, Noumea closei and N. suphurea, reminding me to never be too confident.
Best wishes,
Bill Rudman