Chromodoris africana Eliot, 1904

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 : 25-26

Chromodoris africana Eliot, 1904 Plate 33

Chromodoris africana Eliot, 1904a: 392, pl. 24, fig. 4 (Zanzibar); Rudman 1977: 372, pl. 1A, figs. 12C, D, 13, 17C, 18D (Tanzania); Gosliner 1987: 74, fig. 105 (South Africa); Yonow 1989: 293, pl. 1 (Red Sea); Richmond 2011: 280 (East Africa).

Material.

Kenya: 25 mm in length, preserved, Vipingo, 25 m N of Mombasa, ELW in rock pools on exposed reef, 23 September 1984, leg. J Hognerud (Australian Museum, Sydney, C431128). - Madagascar: 50 × 20 mm (PK-F), Ampangorina, Nosy Komba, 3 m depth in live Acropora , 02 March 1992, leg. and photos P Kemp; photographs of two individuals, Nosy Bé, October 2007, J Hinterkircher. - Tanzania: photographs of two individuals 1994 and Pegasus Wreck, 10 m depth, March 1995, MD Richmond; photographs of two individuals, M’Nazi Bay, Msimbati, near Mtwara, May 1994 and May 1995, IM Horsfall.

Description/Distribution.

A large species, growing to 80 mm in length. Ground colour black, two thick or thin white lines running length of dorsum and joined behind gills forming a loop, not extending to pale orange mantle border anteriorly or posteriorly in any of these specimens but may do so anteriorly in the species. Broad, somewhat crumpled, pale orange tending-to-yellow mantle skirt, separated from the black dorsum by a broad white line. No white line at the margin, visible on the preserved specimen from Madagascar which retains its black, white, and orange bands fifteen years after collection. Gills and rhinophores darker orange than border, arising from pockets with raised orange rims. This species has been recorded from the Red Sea and south along the East African coast only ( Yonow 2008); surprisingly, it is not recorded from the Gulfs of Aden or Oman, which show close faunal affinities with the Red Sea.