''Hypselodoris peasei'' 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 ...

or dorid

nudibranch Nudibranchs () are a group of soft-bodied marine gastropod molluscs which shed their shells after their larval stage. They are noted for their often extraordinary colours and striking forms, and they have been given colourful nicknames to matc ...

, a

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 ...

mollusk 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 e ...

in the

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

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 named ''Doris prismatica'' var. '' lineata'' Pease, 1860, but ''lineata'' was already used for ''Doris lineata'' Eydoux and Souleyet, 1852, so Bergh (1880) provided the replacement name ''Chromodoris peasei''. Bertsch and Gosliner (1989) erected the name ''Hypselodoris andersoni'' for the locust nudibranch, unaware of Bergh's earlier name. However, Rudman (2000) recognized that ''C. peasei'' matched the description of ''H. andersoni'' and Epstein et al., (2018) formalized the priority of ''Hypselodoris peasei'' over ''H. andersoni''.

Distribution

This nudibranch is known only from the Hawaiian islands of

Oahu Oahu () (Hawaiian language, Hawaiian: ''Oʻahu'' ()), also known as "The Gathering place#Island of Oʻahu as The Gathering Place, Gathering Place", is the third-largest of the Hawaiian Islands. It is home to roughly one million people—over t ...

and

Maui The island of Maui (; Hawaiian: ) is the second-largest of the islands of the state of Hawaii at 727.2 square miles (1,883 km2) and is the 17th largest island in the United States. Maui is the largest of Maui County's four islands, which ...

in the central

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

.Rudman, W.B., 2000 (February 4
''Hypselodoris peasei'' (Bergh, 1880).
n/nowiki> Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney.

Description

''Hypselodoris peasei'' has a translucent white body with longitudinal opaque white lines and a blue mantle edge and foot. There are often black specks present on the upper dorsum. The

gills A gill () is a respiratory organ that many aquatic organisms use to extract dissolved oxygen from water and to excrete carbon dioxide. The gills of some species, such as hermit crabs, have adapted to allow respiration on land provided they are ...

and

rhinophores A rhinophore is one of a pair of chemosensory club-shaped, rod-shaped or ear-like structures which are the most prominent part of the external head anatomy in sea slugs, marine gastropod opisthobranch mollusks such as the nudibranchs, sea hares ...

are white, with two orange bands. It is similar to '' Hypselodoris bertschi'' and has been confused with this species in the past. This species can reach a total length of at least 20 mm and has been observed feeding on yellow sponges from the genus '' Luffariella''.Gosliner, T.M., Behrens, D.W. & Valdés, Á., 2018. Nudibranch and Sea Slug Identification - Indo-Pacific. New World Publications; 2nd Revised, Updated edition (1 Nov. 2018) 452 pp. , , p. 186

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q13341597 Chromodorididae Gastropods described in 1880