Dendronotus purpureus Bergh, 1879

Korshunova, Tatiana, Bakken, Torkild, GrØtan, Viktor V., Johnson, Kjetil B., Lundin, Kennet & Martynov, Alexander, 2021, A synoptic review of the family Dendronotidae (Mollusca: Nudibranchia): a multilevel organismal diversity approach, Contributions to Zoology 90 (1), pp. 93-153 : 127

Dendronotus purpureus Bergh, 1879

Dendronotuspurpureus Bergh, 1879: 89–93 , Pl. I, Figs 18–20; Pl. 3, Figs 7 –12.; Bergh, 1904:15; MacFarland, 1966: 254; Odhner, 1936:1108.

Non Dendronotuspurpureus var. aurantiaca Friele, 1879 (= D. frondosus or D. lacteus ).

Diagnosis (original description). Exact number of pairs of branched dorsolateral appendages unknown (at least, more than three). Livingcolour purple, preservedreddish brown. Circa seven oral veil appendages. Five appendages (described as equal in size, likely due to preservation) of rhinophoral stalks. Lateral papilla of rhinophoral sheaths present. Rhinophores with circa 20 lamellae. Several lip papillae (no exact count present in original description). Masticatory processes of jaws with small denticles. Radula with up to 44 rows of teeth. Central tooth with a very fine denticulation. Up to 14 lateral teeth with up to six denticles. Prostate and vas deferens unknown, penis long, straight, conical. Body length up to 20 mm.

Distribution. North Pacific, Bering Sea. Port Moller, Alaska, USA.

Bathymetry. 31 mdepth.

Remarks. According to its original description ( Bergh, 1879), D. purpureus has 14 lateral radula teeth and is thus similar in this respect to the North Atlantic and Arctic species D. lacteus . However, D. lacteus of such a size has usually less than 14 lateral teeth, and also the central teeth usually have more distinct denticles. We therefore retain the North Pacific D. purpureus asaseparate species, potentiallya sisterspecies to D. lacteus , until further studies are done.

Figures

FIGURE 7 Representaives of the genus Dendronotus (living specimens). PHOTOGRAPHS BY T. KORSHUNOVA, A. MARTYNOV, K. FLETCHER, D. MILLER, Y. FUJIWARA, K. HASEGAWA, K. SANAMYAN, N. SANAMYAN, AND O. ZIMINA