Phyllidiella rosans ( Bergh, 1873 )

Tibiriçá, Yara, Pola, Marta & Cervera, Juan Lucas, 2017, Astonishing diversity revealed: an annotated and illustrated inventory of Nudipleura (Gastropoda: Heterobranchia) from Mozambique, Zootaxa 4359 (1), pp. 1-133 : 61

Phyllidiella rosans ( Bergh, 1873)

( Figure 20 E–F)

Material examined. One specimen. ZMBN117065, POD, 11 May 2014, 16m, 32mm.

Habitats. Subtropical rocky reef.

Occurrences. Ponta do Ouro.

Geographic distribution. Indo-west, central Pacific. Hawaii ( Brunckhorst 1993; Gosliner et al. 2008), French Polynesia ( Brunckhorst 1993), Japan, Papua New Guinea, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Marshall Islands, Oman, Maldives (Gosliner et al. 2008), British Indian Ocean Territory ( Yonow et al. 2002), India ( Apte 2009; Remakrishna et al. 2010), Mauritius, Réunion Island ( Brunckhorst 1993) and Mozambique.

Remarks. This species has several pink longitudinal ridges formed by rounded tubercles. The foot sole is grey and the oral tentacles are pale grey ( Brunckhorst 1993). This species resembles P. zeylanica but it can be distinguished in the field by its ventral colouration and smooth tubercles. This species is likely to be part of a species complex as the ridges are more frequently interrupted in Pacific Ocean specimens than in Indian Ocean animals (Gosliner et al. 2008). The collected specimen exhibited two mid-dorsal ridge interruptions posterior to the rhinophores.