Plocamopherus ceylonicus from the Marshalls

March 29, 2000
From: Scott Johnson

Hi Bill,

Attached is a scan of what I've been calling Plocamopherus ceylonicus from the Marshalls. The dozen or so specimens I've seen ranged in length from 6 to about 27mm, and all were similar in coloration to this one. The scan has poor contrast on the anterior end of the animal, but the rest of the body appears to have much more dense orange spotting and much less brown pigment than the animals from Australia and Sulawesi. My color notes do refer to brown speckling aggregating into small brown patches, but that is not very visible in the photo.

Scott

johnson@kmr.ll.mit.edu

Johnson, S., 2000 (Mar 29) Plocamopherus ceylonicus from the Marshalls. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/2170

Dear Scott,
Your animals have certainly emphasised the yellow spots but in shape they certainly look very similar. Out of interest I've added a copy of Kelaart's original drawings, [which are in the Natural History Museum, London] which were later annotated by Charles Eliot for his 1906, 1907 publications on Kelaart's material from Ceylon.

Kelaart described his Polycera? zeylanica as: "Colour above bright orange-red, beneath whitish, with red specks seen through the transparent foot" and when swimming .. " moving its body like an eel in the water"

In all specimens I have seen the red specks are orange or yellow. I have posted in a separate message unpublished drawings/paintings of this species in Wlater Elliot's collections from India, written up by Alder & Hancock (1864).
Best wishes,
Bill Rudman.

Rudman, W.B., 2000 (Mar 29). Comment on Plocamopherus ceylonicus from the Marshalls by Scott Johnson. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/2170

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Plocamopherus ceylonicus

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