Godiva quadricolor

Godiva quadricolor
The nudibranch Godiva quadricolor, 40 mm long, Algoa Bay, South Africa, 18-20 m.
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Gastropoda
(unranked): clade Nudipleura

clade Nudibranchia
clade Dexiarchia
clade Cladobranchia
clade Aeolidida

Superfamily: Aeolidioidea
Family: Facelinidae
Genus: Godiva
Species: G. quadricolor
Binomial name
Godiva quadricolor
(Barnard, 1927)[1]
Synonyms

Hervia quadricolor Barnard, 1927 (original combination)

Godiva quadricolor is a species of sea slug, a nudibranch, a shell-less marine gastropod mollusc in the family Facelinidae.[2]

Distribution

This species was described from South Africa. It occurs on the South African coast from the Cape Peninsula to East London, intertidally to 20 m.[3] It has also been reported from the Mediterranean, off western Australia and West Africa.

Description

Godiva quadricolor is a slender pale-bodied nudibranch with many cerata striped in bands of blue, yellow and orange. Its head is orange with rugose orange rhinophores and has a pair of orange oral tentacles with a white central stripe.[4] Specimens from Western Australia differ significantly in colour and may represent another species.[5]

Godiva cf. quadricolor laying eggs, Swan River, Western Australia.

Ecology

Godiva quadricolor preys on hydroids and on other nudibranchs. Its egg ribbon is a globular mass of white zigzags.

References

  1. Barnard, K.H. (1927) South African nudibranch mollusca, with descriptions of new species, and a note on some specimens from Tristan d'Acunha. Annals of the South African Museum, 25(1): 171-215, Pls 19, 20.
  2. Rosenberg, G. (2012). Godiva quadricolor. Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=225518 on 2012-06-05
  3. GOSLINER, T.M. 1987. Nudibranchs of Southern Africa ISBN 0-930118-13-8
  4. Rudman, W.B., 1999 (Jul 21). Godiva quadricolor. [in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney.
  5. Willan, R.C. (1987) Phylogenetic systematics and zoogeography of Australian nudibranchs. 1. Presence of the aeolid Godiva quadricolor (Barnard) in Western Australia. Journal of the Malacological Society of Australia, 8: 71-85.
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