Glossodoris symmetricus Rudman, 1990

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 : 857

Glossodoris symmetricus Rudman, 1990

(®gure 13d)

Glossodoris symmetricus Rudman, 1990: 275 , ®gures 1C, 6D, 8A, 9D, 10A±D, 11, 12.

Material. Chag96/50: 26 mm; inner reef of Grand Ile Mapou, Peros Banhos Atoll; 21 February 1996; at 4 m depth. Chag96/64: 13 mm; inner reef of Ile Monpatre, Peros Banhos Atoll; 26 February 1996; at 6 m depth.

Description. The body was stout but soft and ¯eshy; the mantle edge was very undulated, with a prominent mid-lateral fold on each side. The colour was semitranslucent, pale olive-fawn; the margin was marked with a ®ne, slightly broken orange-red rim; the foot had an extremely ®ne, continuous, orange-red rim (®gure 13d). There was a broad opaque cream-to-white submargin to both the foot and the mantle. An indistinct yellow band was present between the white submargina l band of the mantle and the olive-fawn of the dorsum, most obvious on the larger specimen. An opaque creamy white band encircled the gills and a symmetrical double cross pattern was present on the dorsum; these two patterns were not complete in the smaller specimen. Rhinophores and gills orange-red.

One preserved animal (96/50) is opaque pink: the very ®ne mantle frill is breaking up, but the mantle glands are visible as white spheres packed together in a wide continuous band, so much so that one part of the detached mantle looks like an egg ribbon. The smaller specimen (96/64) retains its ®ne crenulated mantle edge but there are no glands visible; the body colour is opaque cream and the dark gut is visible.

Geographic distribution. Indo-West Paci®c: this is the ®rst collection of this species since its original description from ReÂunion, Papua New Guinea and the Marshall Islands (Rudman, 1990); photographic records from the Seychelles (P. Kemp; also in Debelius, 1996) and Oman ( Debelius, 1996) may be referred to this species.

Remarks. Our specimens are identical in external morphology and colour to the type, but diOEer in two small details: in both specimens, the orange pigment on the mantle edge is slightly broken, present alternately as dark and faint dashes and spots, and there is a continuous very ®ne red line present around the edge of the foot.