Costasiella cf. kuroshimae Ichikawa, 1993

Mehrotra, Rahul, A. Caballer Gutierrez, Manuel, M. Scott, Chad, Arnold, Spencer, Monchanin, Coline, Viyakarn, Voranop & Chavanich, Suchana, 2021, An updated inventory of sea slugs from Koh Tao, Thailand, with notes on their ecology and a dramatic biodiversity increase for Thai waters, ZooKeys 1042, pp. 73-188 : 73

publication ID

https://dx.doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1042.64474

publication LSID

lsid:zoobank.org:pub:9CF986D8-6A47-4E17-9A67-245C78FB8AFD

persistent identifier

https://treatment.plazi.org/id/2EA91BF2-9233-5FFD-B9F5-EFD728D71AD5

treatment provided by

ZooKeys by Pensoft

scientific name

Costasiella cf. kuroshimae Ichikawa, 1993
status

 

Costasiella cf. kuroshimae Ichikawa, 1993 View in CoL Figure 4A View Figure 4

Material examined.

Two specimens 3-6 mm, LB; two specimens 4-6 mm, SN.

Ecology.

In soft sediment habitats, beyond the coral reef where it feeds predominantly on Avrainvillea longicaulis ( Kützing) G. Murray & Boodle, 1889 and less commonly on Vaucheria sp. Depth 10-18 m.

Distribution.

Costasiella kuroshimae is currently known from the Indo-Pacific including the Red Sea ( Yonow 2015), Singapore ( Jensen 2009), Indonesia ( Eisenbarth et al. 2018), Japan ( Ichikawa 1993), Guam ( Jensen et al. 2014b), Madagascar, Tanzania, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Palau, and Australia ( Gosliner et al. 2008). Known from the Gulf waters of Thailand ( Mehrotra and Scott 2016).

Remarks.

Due to the original description of the species being entirely based on external features, the identity of numerous similar species and the extent of the variability of the species has remained unclear for several years. Molecular work ( Jensen et al. 2014b) has shown that specimens identified as Costasiella kuroshimae or C. cf. kuroshimae actually make up numerous distinct species that currently await description. Research carried out on specimens from Koh Tao ( Mehrotra et al. 2019) indicates that this species is palatable to some scleractinian corals and, based on natural observations, may be viable prey for the free-living coral Heteropsammia cochlea (Spengler, 1781), in soft sediment habitats.