Diversidoris flava

Diversidoris flava
A pair of Diversidoris flava, Philippines
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Gastropoda
(unranked): clade Heterobranchia

clade Euthyneura
clade Nudipleura
clade Nudibranchia
clade Euctenidiacea
clade Doridacea

Superfamily: Doridoidea
Family: Chromodorididae
Genus: Diversidoris
Species: D. flava
Binomial name
Diversidoris flava
Rudman, 1986
Synonyms
  • Chromodoris flava Eliot, 1904 (original combination)
  • Glossodoris flava (Eliot, 1904)
  • Noumea flava (Eliot, 1904)

Diversidoris flava is a species of colorful sea slug, a dorid nudibranch, a shell-less marine gastropod mollusk in the family Chromodorididae.[1]

Distribution

This nudibranch was originally described from East Africa, but it has an Indo-West Pacific distribution.;[2] also off Australia (Queensland).

Description

This species is usually less than 2 inches in length. It has a yellow body with an identifying red mantle margin which has two semi-permanent mantle folds about mid-body. The rhinophores and branchia (gills) are yellow. Identifying individual yellow sea slugs within the genus Noumea can be challenging because yellow forms exist in several related species.

Ecology

This species is often found on the yellow sponge Hyrtios, which appears to be its preferred food source.[3]

References

  1. Bouchet, P. (2015). Diversidoris flava (Eliot, 1904). In: MolluscaBase (2015). Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=597312 on 2016-01-13
  2. Noumea flava, Sea Slug Forum.
  3. Noumea flava food source, Sea Slugs of Hawaii.

Further reading

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Noumea flava.
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