''Felimida clenchi'',

common name In biology, a common name of a taxon or organism (also known as a vernacular name, English name, colloquial name, country name, popular name, or farmer's name) is a name that is based on the normal language of everyday life; and is often con ...

the Harlequin blue doris, is a

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

of colorful

sea slug Sea slug is a common name for some Marine biology, marine invertebrates with varying levels of resemblance to terrestrial Slug, slugs. Most creatures known as sea slugs are gastropods, i.e. they are Sea snail, sea snails (marine gastropod moll ...

, a dorid

nudibranch Nudibranchs () are a group of soft-bodied marine gastropod molluscs, belonging to the order Nudibranchia, that shed their shells after their larval stage. They are noted for their often extraordinary colours and striking forms, and they have b ...

, a marine

gastropod Gastropods (), commonly known as slugs and snails, belong to a large Taxonomy (biology), taxonomic class of invertebrates within the phylum Mollusca called Gastropoda (). This class comprises snails and slugs from saltwater, freshwater, and fro ...

mollusk Mollusca is a phylum of protostomic invertebrate animals, whose members are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 76,000 extant species of molluscs are recognized, making it the second-largest animal phylum after Arthropoda. The ...

in the family

Chromodorididae Chromodorididae, or chromodorids, are a taxonomic family of colourful sea slugs; dorid nudibranchs, marine gastropod mollusks in the superfamily Doridoidea. “Chromodorid nudibranchs are among the most gorgeously coloured of all animals.� ...

Taxonomy

This species was originally a member of the genus '' Chromodoris'' Alder & Hancock, 1855. It was recently transferred to ''Felimida'' in 2012.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. . This species is part of a complex that comprises '' Felimida binza'' (Ev. Marcus & Er. Marcus, 1963). These species share a similar reticular pattern of yellow and red pigment and morphology. ''Felimida neona'' was described under the name ''Glossodoris neona'' by Ernst Marcus in Brazil in 1955. It was also known as the "Neon Sea Goddess". It was distinguished by the presence of white

rhinophore A rhinophore is one of a pair of Chemoreceptor, chemosensory club-shaped, rod-shaped or ear-like structures which are the most prominent part of the external head anatomy in sea slugs, Marine (ocean), marine gastropod opisthobranch mollusks suc ...

s and blue-tipped brachial leaves.Valdés Á., Hamann J., Behrens D. W., DuPont A. (2006). ''Caribbean Sea Slugs'', Sea Challengers Natural History Books, Etc., Gig Harbor, Washington, pp. 150-151. . ''Felimida neona'' was synonymized with ''Felimida clenchi'' by Padula et al. in 2016.Padula V., Bahia J., Stöger I., Camacho-García Y., Malaquias M. A. E., Cervera J. L. & Schrödl M. (2016). "A test of color-based taxonomy in nudibranchs: Molecular phylogeny and species delimitation of the ''Felimida clenchi'' (Mollusca: Chromodorididae) species complex". ''

Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution ''Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution'' is a peer-reviewed scientific journal of evolutionary biology and phylogenetics. The journal is edited by E.A. Zimmer. Indexing The journal is indexed in: * EMBiology *Journal Citation Reports *Scopus ...

'' 103: 215-229. . They also changed color pattern for identification of ''Felimida clenchi'' and '' Felimida binza''.

Distribution

This species occurs in the

Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico () is an oceanic basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, mostly surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north, and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United States; on the southw ...

, the

Caribbean Sea The Caribbean Sea is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean in the tropics of the Western Hemisphere, located south of the Gulf of Mexico and southwest of the Sargasso Sea. It is bounded by the Greater Antilles to the north from Cuba ...

and the

Lesser Antilles The Lesser Antilles is a group of islands in the Caribbean Sea, forming part of the West Indies in Caribbean, Caribbean region of the Americas. They are distinguished from the larger islands of the Greater Antilles to the west. They form an arc w ...

. Distribution of ''Felimida clenchi'' includes Florida, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Venezuela, Bermuda, Cayman Islands, Jamaica, Curaçao, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines (according to Goodheart et al. 2016). This distribution data needs to be checked again in consideration of the new color-pattern versus DNA concept of the species complex, as laid out by Padula et al. (2016).

Description

The body is oval. Dorsum is smooth. Background color is pale blue with a dense pattern of red covering the dorsum, but leaving small circular uncovered areas. The red becomes yellow near the rhinophores and gill. Mantle margin is with a submarginal white band edged with a red line. Rhinophores and gill are white with purple rachises. The maximum recorded length is 30 mm.

Habitat

The minimum recorded depth for this species is 0 m; the maximum recorded depth is 30 m.Welch J. J. (2010). "The "Island Rule" and Deep-Sea Gastropods: Re-Examining the Evidence". '' PLoS ONE'' 5(1): e8776. . This nudibranch species was found under rocks or on

sponges Sponges or sea sponges are primarily marine invertebrates of the animal phylum Porifera (; meaning 'pore bearer'), a basal clade and a sister taxon of the diploblasts. They are sessile filter feeders that are bound to the seabed, and ar ...

in Panama.

References

This article incorporates Creative Commons (CC-BY-4.0) text from the referenceGoodheart J. A., Ellingson R. A., Vital X. G., Galvão Filho H. C., McCarthy J. B., Medrano S. M., Bhave V. J., García-Méndez K., Jiménez L. M., López G. & Hoover C. A. (2016). "Identification guide to the heterobranch sea slugs (Mollusca: Gastropoda) from Bocas del Toro, Panama". ''Marine Biodiversity Records'' 9(1): 56. {{Taxonbar, from=Q3171094 Chromodorididae Gastropods described in 1935

Taxonomy

Distribution

Description

Habitat

Further reading

References