Geitodoris mavis

Image courtesy of Dr. Hans Bertsch

Portrait (aquarium photo) of 13 mm specimen collected 16 March 2000, nine feet deep, at the western end of W. Islas Gemelos, Bahía de los Ángeles, by Hans Bertsch

Photo by Chris Kitting
Geitodoris mavis and Anteaeolidiella chromosoma
(respectively 20 and 10 mm long). In situ photo taken at Punta la Gringa, BLA,
11 feet depth, on 23 March 2010, by Dr. Christopher L. Kitting.

Geitodoris mavis Geitodoris mavis (Marcus & Marcus, 1967)             This species was one of the 12 described by Marcus & Marcus (1967) with a type locality of Puerto Peñasco, Sonora (see Bertsch, 2018). It was described from one 24 mm long specimen, collected 5 March 1966, by Prof. Peter E. Pickens, as Discodoris mavis. Although known throughout the length of the tropical eastern Pacific marine faunal provinces, it is a relatively rare species, with only a few records. During the 26-year period from 1984-2010, I observed only 14 individuals in the Bahía de los Ángeles region. Dra. Alicia Hermosillo McKowen did not report its occurrence during her remarkable study of the Bahía de Banderas nudibranchs. Description: Body color dark orange, covered with small, dark brown tubercles. Tips of gills and rhinophores white. Size: To 0.8 inches. Habitat: Intertidal and shallow subtidal, under rocks. Distribution: Northern Gulf of California to Costa Rica and the Islas Galápagos. Remarks: Radular differences easily separate this genus from Discodoris. The southern Californian G. heathi (MacFarland, 1095) may be its sister species. Descripción: El color del cuerpo es anaranjado obscuro, cubierto de pequeños tubérculos café obscuro. Las puntas de las branquias y de los rinóforos son blancos. Tamaño: Mide 20 mm. Hábitat: Se encuentra debajo de rocas de la zona intermareal y en la parte somera del submereal. Distribución: Se localiza desde la parte norte del Golfo de California hasta Costa Rica y las Islas Galápagos. Observaciones: Diferencias radulares fácilmente separan a este género de Discodoris. Geitodoris heathi (MacFarland, 1905) de la parte sur de California, puede ser su especie hermana.

(Information above was modified from Invertebrados Marinos del Noroeste de México / Marine Invertebrates of Northwest Mexico, by Hans Bertsch & Luis E. Aguilar Rosas (2016, page 274).

References

Bertsch, Hans. 2018. A history of people, slugs and type localities at Bahía de los Ángeles, Gulf of California: some recollections. The Festivus 50 (3): 179-197.

Hermosillo González, Alicia. 2006. Ecología de los opistobranquios (Molluscla) de Bahía de Banderas, Jalisco-Nayarit, México. Tesis de Doctorada, Universidad de Guadalajara, Centro Universitario de Ciencias Biológicas y Agropecuarias. viii + 151 pp.

Marcus, Eveline & Ernst Marcus. 1967. American Opisthobranch Mollusks. Studies in Tropical Oceanography, Miami. viii + 256 pp.