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Peltodoris mullineri
Photo courtesy of Dave Mulliner
Peltodoris mullineri Millen & Bertsch, 2000
Color photographs of this species appeared in both editions of Dave Behrens' Pacific Coast Nudibranchs (1980: p. 103, by James Lance, and 1991: p. 69, by David K. Mulliner); they were both identified as unnamed species of Peltodoris. This animal also premiered on the Slug Site in its formative years. Sandra Millen and I finally named this species in the October 2000 issue (vol. 43, no. 4) of The Veliger.
This large (up to 70 mm in total length), beautiful, yellow to golden orange dorid with speckled brown blotches, has a known range from Santa Barbara and Anacapa Islands (the southern California Channel Islands) to Cabo San Lucas, Baja California Sur, México. Neither its food nor its egg mass have been identified.
We described its internal anatomy in our Veliger paper. Suffice it to say
here that the radular formula is 23-24 (42-63.0.42-63). The teeth are
simple hooks (characteristic of this genus and Discodorididae in general).
The central area has 12-15 small teeth per side, which abruptly increase in
size and remain constant until the last five to six which gradually
diminish at the margin.
Imperial Beach
Nov. 2000
Millen, Sandra V., and Hans Bertsch. 2000. Three new species of dorid nudibranchs from southern California, USA, and the Baja California peninsula, Mexico. The Veliger 43 (4): 354-366.
Dave Mulliner
Send Dave e-mail at mulliner1@juno.com |
Text courtesy of Dr. Hans Bertsch
Assoc. Prof. |
