Chromodoris hamiltoni Rudman, 1977

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 : 32

Chromodoris hamiltoni Rudman, 1977 Plate 45

Chromodoris hamiltoni Rudman, 1977: 374, pl. 1A, num figs. (Kenya, Tanzania); Gosliner 1987: 74, fig. 104 (South Africa); Debelius and Kuiter 2007: 172 (Mauritius, Mozambique, South Africa); Richmond 2011: 270 (East Africa).

Material.

Kenya: six specimens 15-20 mm pres. lengths, Vipingo, 25 miles N of Mombasa, ELW in rock pools on exposed reef, 23 September 1984, leg. J Hognerud (Australian Museum, Sydney, C431127). - Tanzania: photographs of two individuals, 1994, and reef flat, Matemwe, August 1993, MD Richmond; photo of one individual, Mafia Island, shallow water, May 2009, A de Villiers. - La Réunion: photograph of single individual, P Bidgrain, pers. comm.

Description/Distribution.

The preserved specimens were blue in life with a broad pale orange mantle skirt and a distinctive orange patch in the centre of the dorsum, bisected by a longitudinal black line. All published records are listed above, and indicate that this species is known only from eastern Africa: Chromodoris hamiltoni has not been recorded from any of the island groups except La Réunion. It is similar only to Chromodoris quadricolor (see below), but usually lacks the distinctive white line between the black outermost line and the orange margin, the orange margin is paler and slightly more pink, and usually it has additional patches of orange and/or black dorsally. It is a much more variable species than Chromodoris quadricolor .