Paradoris leuca from Moeraki, South Island, New Zealand

November 10, 2006
From: Kimberley Seaward

Dear Bill,

Here is a photo of a nudibranch I took on my recent trip to Moeraki. It was relatively abundant, although I haven't even started to look to find out what it is

Locality: Moeraki, Otago, South Island, New Zealand, east coast. Intertidal. 02 November 2006, Intertidal . Length:  approx 3 cm. Photographer: Kimberley Seaward.

Thanks,
Kimberley

kimberley.seaward@canterbury.ac.nz

Seaward, K.J., 2006 (Nov 10) Paradoris leuca from Moeraki, South Island, New Zealand. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/18265

Note added 12 January 2010: I have posted a message today showing a specimen of Paradoris from New Zealand with the characteristic brown marks of P. dubia whch suggests Dayrat's synonymy of P. leuca with P. dubia is correct. See message #23082

Dear Kimberley,

This is an interesting find. This dorid is Paradoris leuca Miller, 1995, which was only described from New Zealand ten years ago. Apart from its anatomical features, the main external character is its white mantle and brown rhinophores. I have posted a page on this species today which includes a photo kindly provided by Michael Miller of a specimen he photographed from Portobello, Dunedin, New Zealand, and formed part of his description. The genus Paradoris has only just been revised (Dayrat, 2006), and in that paper it is suggested that P. leuca is a synonym of the southern Australian species, Paradoris dubia (Bergh, 1904), but I have my doubts. The colour photos I have seen of the New Zealand animals seem to lack the colour patterning found in Australian P. dubia. As Benoit notes in his revision, we know so little about the colour of most species of this genus that synonymising these species at present would seem a bit premature.

  • Dayrat, B. (2006) A taxonomic revision of Paradoris sea slugs (Mollusca, Gastropoda, Nudibranchia, Doridina). Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 147(2): 125-238.
  • Miller, M. C. (1995) New species of the dorid nudibranch genus Paradoris Bergh, 1884 (Gastropoda: Opisthobranchia). Journal of Natural History 29: 901-908.

Best wishes,
Bill Rudman

Rudman, W.B., 2006 (Nov 10). Comment on Paradoris leuca from Moeraki, South Island, New Zealand by Kimberley Seaward. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/18265

Factsheet

Paradoris dubia

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