Chelidonura sandrana Rudman, 1973

Yonow, Nathalie, Anderson, R. Charles & Buttress, Susan G., 2002, Opisthobranch molluscs from the Chagos Archipelago, Central Indian Ocean, Journal of Natural History 36 (7), pp. 831-882 : 835

Chelidonura sandrana Rudman, 1973

(®gure 2b) Chelidonura sandrana Rudman, 1973: 208 , ®gures 4, 5; Yonow, 1992: ®gure 3; Yonow, 1994a: 100, ®gures 2E, 4A, B; Yonow, 1994b: 144, ®gure 2A±C.

Material. Chag96/54a, b, c: 13 mm, 8 mm, 8 mm; inner reef of Petit Ile Mapou, Peros Banhos Atoll; 22 February 1996; at 14 m depth.

Description. All three specimens of this minute species were jet black, with only a small area of cream anteriorly; head shield with three lobes anteriorly (®gure 2b). The parapodia were held tightly against the body and did not meet mid-dorsally. The left posterior process was extended into an elongated ®lament, more than half of body length in largest specimen (apparently broken in one of the smaller specimens).

Geographic distribution. Western Indian Ocean: from the Red Sea (Yonow, 1994b), Zanzibar (Rudman, 1973) and the Maldives (Yonow, 1992, 1994a).

Remarks. This species is usually common where it occurs, on ®ne silty/sandy substrata. A similar species was noted from Western Australia (Wells and Bryce, 1993), which diOEers in being much larger, 20 mm, brownish and covered in irregular yellowish ¯ecks with a concentration on the tip of the head shield. Chelidonura sandrana is either completely black or with petaloid orange and white patterns, and with or without cream anteriorly.