Phyllidiella rudmani Brunckhorst, 1993

Yonow, Nathalie, 2012, Opisthobranchs from the western Indian Ocean, with descriptions of two new species and ten new records (Mollusca, Gastropoda), ZooKeys 197, pp. 1-130 : 54

Phyllidiella rudmani Brunckhorst, 1993 Fig. 23Plate 70

Phyllidiella rudmani Brunckhorst, 1993: 62; fig. 29d, pl. 7C, D (SW Thailand + Pacific); Yonow 1996: 504, fig. 11A-G (Maldives).

Material.

Maldives: 10 × 3 mm alive (NY-11a), Nakatcha Tila, North Malé Atoll, 20 m depth, 12 May 1990, leg. N Yonow.

Description/Distribution.

This juvenile specimen has identical marking to adult specimens, white with two black lines; dorsum completely smooth, tubercles not yet developed and spicules clearly visible in skin (Fig. 23A). Ventrally, minute tentacles same shape as in adults ( Yonow 1996, figs. 11C, D), but no black pigment (Fig. 23B); gills and crevice between foot and hyponotum still black. Phyllidiella rudmani has a wide distribution from the eastern Indian Ocean to Japan in the western Pacific; it is currently only known from the Maldives in the central Indian Ocean.