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Asteronotus cespitosus (van Hasselt, 1824)
(fig. 8, pl. 3 fig. 6)
Doris cespitosa van Hasselt, 1824: 238.
Asteronotus cespitosus Bergh, 1890: 918, pl. 86 figs 7, 8 (Edam, Indonesia); Bergh, 1905: 141, pl. 1 fig. 5; Marshall & Willan, 1999: 71, figs 119, 120; Valdés & Gosliner, 2001: 105, figs 1a, 2a, 3, 4, 5b, e; Gosliner et al., 2008: 173.
Material.— RMNH.MOL.170512, RBE Stn 37, W side Laha, Hitu, 2 m depth, “large red nudibranch under basalt rock,” 6.xii.1990, 110 × 60 mm pres., leg. and photos M. Lavaleye 46-25/29 (specimen 1: brick red); RMNH.MOL.131682, RBE Stn 30, Suli, Hitu, 2 m depth, “large green nudibranch under coral block,” 29.xii.1990, 80 × 45 mm pres., leg. and photos M. Lavaleye 35-30/31 (specimen 2: piece missing left side); RMNH.MOL.131681, RBE Stn 17, SE of Pombo Island, Ambon, littoral, “very large Doris,” 6.xii.1990, leg. F. de Jong, 65 × 40 mm pres., photo M. Lavaleye 46-23/24 (specimen 3: normal colouration); Indonesia, photos of two individuals, one with red colouration measured at 150 mm, J. Hinterkircher.
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Fig. 8. Asteronotus cespitosus, RBE stn 30, 80 mm preserved, ventral view. |
Description.— Preserved specimen 1 is black dorsally and charcoal grey ventrally with the brownish gills, rhinophores, and buccal mass extended. The tubercles are no longer visible but the skirt still retains its wrinkles. Specimens 2 (pl. 3 fig. 6) and 3 are pale grey with charcoal grey tubercles, creamy rhinophores and gills, and grey rhinophoral and branchial pockets; ventrally, both the foot and buccal mass are cream. The edge of the hyponotum is cream or grey with an irregular creamy band, followed by a maroon band with a dark grey line on either side; neare st the foot is another cream band (fig. 8).
Remarks.— Originally described from nearby Java, this large species is well known in the tropical Indo-Pacific and Red Sea (Marshall & Willan, 1999; Yonow, 1990, 2008).