SEBADORIS ER. MARCUS & EV. MARCUS, 1960

Sebadoris Marcus & Marcus, 1960: 904–905 . Type species: Thordisa crosslandi Eliot, 1904, by original designation.

Diagnosis

Dorsum covered with thick and soft papillae. Anterior border of the foot grooved and notched. Labial armature with jaws. Radula composed of simple, hamate teeth. Reproductive system with a flattened, granular prostate, having two well differentiated regions. Penis and vagina devoid of hooks. Penis internally covered with irregular, soft lamellae. Vestibular or accessory glands absent.

Remarks

Marcus & Marcus (1960) introduced the genus Sebadoris based on Thordisa crosslandi Eliot, 1904 . According to these authors, Sebadoris is a ‘ discodorididae in the sense of Odhner’, whose notum has papillae of different sizes, some of them rounded and some pointed. Other diagnostic features are: oral tentacles with finger shape, anterior border of the foot grooved and notched, branchial leaves tripinnate, jaws armed with two areas of elements, radula without rachidian teeth and with hamate lateral teeth; prostate clearly differentiated from the deferent duct; penis spiral, with two longitudinal series of spines; bursa copulatrix and seminal receptacle arranged serially. All these characteristics are also present in other species of Discodoris, with the exception of the complex dorsal morphology with soft papillae and the spiral penis with two longitudinal series of spines. A re-examination of specimens of the type species of Sebadoris, shows that the spines seen by Marcus & Marcus (1960) are internal folds in the penis and not hard structures. It is not clear whether Sebadoris is a synonym of Discodoris . A more detailed phylogenetic analysis of the Discodoris clade, with all the species included would solve this problem. In the meanwhile the genus Sebadoris is maintained as valid.