Oxynoe kylei

Image courtesy of David Cowdery
Bontoh Village, Sangeang, Komodos, Indonesia
Image courtesy of Dave Behrens




Oxynoe kylei Krug, Berriman & Valdes, 2018

Two in a row - Okay - Here we go again. Love these guys.

As we mentioned in last week's presentation of Oxynoe cf. natalensis,NSSI 2nd Edition lists several undescribed species as "Oxynoe sp. #." A little heads up for those of you that want to update your copy of the book - following the sp# is a name in quotes, like Oxynoe sp. 1 "kylei." This species, along with three others in the book, has now been officially described by Krug et al (2018) and we can use these names as the official genus and species - i.e. Oxynoe kylei.

Approaching some of the crazy names used by Eveline Marcus when describing new species, like Doris tanya after Gale Sphon's cat and Doto kya , the Aleut Indian name for a seal, this species is named to recognize senior author Pat Krug's nephew, Kyle Andrew Krug for his love of leaping over the spiky video-game Ninja turtles (seen at left) that this species resembles. Okay...

The species is very distinctive both internally and externally. For those of us without x-ray vision, and cannot access the distinctive radula, the outside of the body is cream with a reticulate black pattern, and large papillae. Some specimens like David's here have blue spots.

Observed from the Marshall Islands and Palau, as well as Guam and the Philippines, this species feeds on branching species of the green algae Caulerpa, such as C. verticillata and C. fastigiata.

Reference:

Patrick J. Krug, John S. Berriman, and Ángel Valdes. 2018. Phylogenetic systematics of the shelled sea slug genus Oxynoe Rafinesque, 1814 (Heterobranchia:?Sacoglossa), with integrative descriptions of seven new species," Invertebrate Systematics 32(4), 95



Dave Behrens
Sammamish, WA 98074
Nov., 2020
Send Dave email at davidwbehrens@gmail.com



Dave Cowdery is a retired bio-medical Engineer and is the inventor of the Alumina/Titanium hermetic feedthrough (1970) for implantable bionics and the first to introduce a Titanium casing. This invention created the first bionic implant (pacemaker) with a service life that could be measured in years rather than months and is the basis for todays huge multi billion dollar bionic industry.

David is a Divemaster with over 5,500 dives experience and is based near Byron Bay in Australia. David is also a keen competitive road bicycle rider covering over 400 km most weeks. Photographic equipment used Nikon D800 camera with DS160 substrobes.

Send Dave mail at divec@ozemail.com.au


Attention all you Sluggers, and you know who you are!

The NSSI 2nd edition is now available in ebook PDF and book form . The hard back version will become available Nov. 1st. Both will cost $65 (individually).

You will need to jump through a few hoops to get the electronic version as pdf distribution is protected by Adobe ID!! Please read the following to enable reading your electronic purchase!

This new 2nd Edition is updated and reorganized, including 185 new species. Among other features, the new edition includes additional photographs of species, an identification key, and an up-to-date classification reflecting the latest evolutionary relationships. The Indo-Pacific represents the largest expanse of tropical ocean in the world, stretching from the Indian Ocean coast of southern Africa and the Red Sea to the central Pacific of the Hawaiian Islands, Easter Island and the Marquesas.

This region supports the most diverse marine fauna of any place in the world for most groups of marine organisms. The nudibranchs and sea slugs are no exception to this rule; there are about 3,000 described species of these organisms in the world and at least 40% of these have been found exclusively in the Indo-Pacific tropics. This book illustrates 2,138 Indo-Pacific nudibranchs and sea slugs, including many undescribed species.


From left to right, Terry Gosliner, Angel Valdes, Dave Behrens La Jolla, Calif.

Send Dave email at davidwbehrens@gmail.com

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