Mexichromis aurora

Mexichromis aurora is a species of sea slug or dorid nudibranch, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Chromodorididae.[2]

Mexichromis aurora
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Gastropoda
Subclass: Heterobranchia
Order: Nudibranchia
Suborder: Doridina
Superfamily: Doridoidea
Family: Chromodorididae
Genus: Mexichromis
Species:
M. aurora
Binomial name
Mexichromis aurora
(Johnson R.F. & Gosliner, 1998)[1]
Synonyms
  • Pectenodoris aurora R. F. Johnson & Gosliner, 1998

Distribution

The holotype of this species was collected at Seragaki Beach, ENE of Maekizaki, Ryukyu Islands, Okinawa, Japan at 58 m (190 ft) depth. Additional specimens from depths as shallow as 10 m (33 ft) from the Ryukyu Islands, Lembeh Strait, north Sulawesi, Indonesia and Maricaban Island, Batangas Province, Luzon Island, Philippines were included in the original description. The distribution is entirely contained within the range of the more common Mexichromis trilineata and both species can be found at the same site.[1]

Description

Originally described in the genus Pectenodoris this species is similar in anatomy and colouration to Mexichromis trilineata.[3] Both of these species share a similar radula, anatomy and colour pattern which was considered sufficiently distinctive to define the genus Pectenodoris[4] but this genus was merged with Mexichromis on the basis of a DNA phylogenetic study. The two species of Pectenodoris form a clade which is sister to the other Mexichromis species.[5]

Ecology

Pectenodoris species feed on species of the sponge Dysidea.[6]

References
  1. Johnson R.F. & Gosliner T.M. (1998) The genus Mexichromis (Nudibranchia Chromodorididae) from the Indo-Pacific, with the description of a new species. Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences 50 (12): 295-306.
  2. MolluscaBase (2018). Mexichromis aurora (R. F. Johnson & Gosliner, 1998). Accessed on 2019-01-09.
  3. Rudman, W.B., 2002 (July 29) Pectenodoris aurora Johnson & Gosliner, 1998. [In] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney.
  4. Rudman, W. B. (1984). The Chromodorididae (Opisthobranchia: Mollusca) of the Indo-West Pacific: a review of the genera. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 81(2): 115-273, page 159
  5. Johnson R.F. & Gosliner T.M. (2012) Traditional taxonomic groupings mask evolutionary history: A molecular phylogeny and new classification of the chromodorid nudibranchs. PLoS ONE 7(4): e33479.
  6. Rudman, W. B. & Bergquist, P. R. (2007) A review of feeding specificity in the sponge-feeding Chromodorididae (Nudibranchia: Mollusca). Molluscan Research, 27(2): 60-88


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