'runcinid' from Sulawesi, Indonesia

March 23, 1999
From: Lindsay Warren

Dear Bill

Please find attached another opisthobranch found in the Tukang Besi Islands [Sulawesi, Indonesia - Operation Wallacea] last year:


Length: 3 mm.  Found at a depth of 5 m on dead branching coral covered in algae and tunicates.  Initial thoughts are that it might be an Ilbia or Pseudoilbia.  Overall the notum was white with yellow spots although parts of it near the mantle edge were transparent without any pigmentation as was part of the foot.  Posterior mantle distinctly separate from tail.  No rhinophores or gills visible.  Two very noticeable black eye spots and behind these a 'butterfly' section with no pigment but bears clustered black spots.  Square anterior head shield.

Lindsay.

100014.2112@compuserve.com

Warren, L., 1999 (Mar 23) 'runcinid' from Sulawesi, Indonesia. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/693

Dear Lindsay,
From the field sketches you have sent me it is almost certainly a runcinid or a related ilbiid, such as Ilbia.

It would be interesting to know if the black "eyes" are really eyes or just colour spots which look like eyes. Opisthobranch eyes are seldom as prominent as that, and in runcinids are usually only visible through the side of the body.

Bill Rudman.

Rudman, W.B., 1999 (Mar 23). Comment on 'runcinid' from Sulawesi, Indonesia by Lindsay Warren. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/693

Factsheet

Ilbia mariana

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