Dendrodoris tuberculosa (Quoy and Gaimard, 1832)

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 : 859

Dendrodoris tuberculosa (Quoy and Gaimard, 1832)

(®gures 4g, 15)

Doris tuberculosa Quoy and Gaimard, 1832: 248 , pl. 16, ®gures 1, 2; Alder and Hancock, 1864: 127, pl. 29, ®gures 8±10.

Dendrodoris tuberculosa: Hirano, 1992 : ®gure 2A, B.

Material. Chag96/7: 140 mm (60 mm pres. length); inner reef, Ile Boddam, Salomon Atoll; 10 February 1996; at 17 m depth.

Description. Large, ¯eshy, brown coloured (®gure 4g). Dorsal surface with many large ¯eshy compound tuberculate complexes, each of which had many folds and tubercles; central complexes larger than lateral ones. Central tubercle of each complex higher than ring of surrounding ones, each with orange pimple at apex, followed by series of folds to base. Lateral tubercles alternately brown and pale (almost cream). The tubercular complexes were densely packed with no bare mantle between them, giving each complex a polygonal outline. Mantle edge ®nely frilled. Underside of mantle brown, with numerous white spots surrounded by a black line (®gure 15). Rhinophores with long stalk and very angled club; lamellae brown, with white midline almost invisible distally and double basally. Gills brown with pale edging to plumes.

Geographic distribution. Probably Indo-West Paci®c: reliable records from India (Alder and Hancock, 1864), Zanzibar ( Eliot, 1904c), New Guinea (Quoy and Gaimard, 1832) and Japan (Hirano, 1992).

Remarks. Taxonomically, this group of large warty dendrodorids is a di cult one, and Edmunds and Preece (1996) discussed this at length. Their specimen from the Pitcairn Islands (central Paci®c) is diOEerent from ours and would be better assigned to D. carbunculosa Kelaart , which has warty nodules,`larger ones rising from a raised tubercular ringed base’. The original description of the foot and