''Chromodoris dianae'' is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

sea slug Sea slug is a common name for some marine invertebrates with varying levels of resemblance to terrestrial slugs. Most creatures known as sea slugs are gastropods, i.e. they are sea snails (marine gastropod mollusks) that over evolutionary t ...

, a dorid nudibranch, a shell-less

marine Marine is an adjective meaning of or pertaining to the sea or ocean. Marine or marines may refer to: Ocean * Maritime (disambiguation) * Marine art * Marine biology * Marine debris * Marine habitats * Marine life * Marine pollution Military * ...

gastropod The gastropods (), commonly known as snails and slugs, belong to a large taxonomic class of invertebrates within the phylum Mollusca called Gastropoda (). This class comprises snails and slugs from saltwater, from freshwater, and from land. T ...

mollusc Mollusca is the second-largest phylum of invertebrate animals after the Arthropoda, the members of which are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 85,000 extant species of molluscs are recognized. The number of fossil species is esti ...

in the family Chromodorididae.

Distribution

This species is known only from the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

and

Borneo Borneo (; id, Kalimantan) is the third-largest island in the world and the largest in Asia. At the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, in relation to major Indonesian islands, it is located north of Java, west of Sulawesi, and eas ...

.Rudman, W.B., 1998 (April 8
''Chromodoris dianae'' Gosliner & Behrens, 1998
n/nowiki> Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Chromodoris dianae (AA2)

Description

''Chromodoris dianae'' can reach a maximum size of 4 cm length. The body is elongate with a foot which is distinct from the upper body by a skirt like mantle partially hiding the foot. This species is very similar in appearance to ''

Chromodoris lochi ''Chromodoris lochi'', common name Loch's chromodoris, is a species of colourful sea slug, a dorid nudibranch, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Chromodorididae. Distribution This species is found in the tropical waters of the central ...

'' although it can be distinguished from the latter by the broken black lines, (as opposed to continuous) and the sprinkling of white specks on the notum. ''Chromodoris dianae'' has white gills and rhinophores with distinct yellow-orange tips. The original description includes animals which belong to another species (''Chromodoris'' cf. ''dianae'') which are distinguished by a colour pattern which includes gills and rhinophores orange throughout, orange markings at the edge of the mantle and a different pattern of black markings; confirmed as species level differences by DNA sequences.Gosliner, T.M., Behrens, D.W. & Valdés, Á., 2018. ''Nudibranch and Sea Slug Identification - Indo-Pacific.'' New World Publications; 2nd Revised, Updated edition. 452 pp. , , p. 137

Ecology

''Chromodoris dianae'', like many other nudibranchs, feeds on

sponges Sponges, the members of the phylum Porifera (; meaning 'pore bearer'), are a basal animal clade as a sister of the diploblasts. They are multicellular organisms that have bodies full of pores and channels allowing water to circulate through ...

. It has been reported to eat ''Cacospongia mycofijiensis'' and '' Petrosaspongia nigra'', both in the family

Thorectidae Thorectidae is a family of sea sponges in the order Dictyoceratida Dictyoceratida is an order of sponges in the subclass Ceractinomorpha containing five families. Along with the Dendroceratida, it is one of the two orders of demosponges that m ...

References

External links

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q1424341 Chromodorididae Molluscs of the Pacific Ocean Gastropods described in 1998