''Samla rubropurpurata'' 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 time ...

, an aeolid

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 match, ...

, a marine

heterobranch Heterobranchia, the ''heterobranchs'' (meaning "different-gilled snails"), is a taxonomic clade of snails and slugs, which includes marine, aquatic and terrestrial gastropod mollusks. Heterobranchia is one of the main clades of gastropods. Cur ...

mollusc in the family

Samlidae Samlidae is a taxonomic family of brightly coloured sea slugs, specifically nudibranchs, marine gastropod mollusk Mollusca is the second-largest phylum of invertebrate animals after the Arthropoda, the members of which are known as m ...

.Rosenberg, G. (2015)
''Flabellina rubropurpurata'' Gosliner & Willan, 1991.
In: MolluscaBase (2015). Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species on 2015-10-26

Description

''S. rubropurpurata'' have a maximum length of 15mm (1.5 cm) and has a purple hue throughout the body tissues, overlaid by a white frosting of superficial pigment on the back and sides. The tips of the cerata and rhinophores are orange and the outer part of the oral tentacles is also overlain with white pigment.Rudman, W.B., 2001 (January 3
''Flabellina rubropurpurata'' Gosliner & Willan, 1991.
n/nowiki> Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney.

Distribution

The species was described from

Madang Madang (old German name: ''Friedrich-Wilhelmshafen'') is the capital of Madang Province and is a town with a population of 27,420 (in 2005) on the north coast of Papua New Guinea. It was first settled by the Germans in the 19th century. Histo ...

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...

with an additional specimen from

Sodwana Bay Sodwana Bay is a bay in South Africa on the KwaZulu Natal north coast, between St. Lucia and Lake Sibhayi. It is in the Sodwana Bay National Park, and the Maputaland Marine Reserve, and is a popular recreational diving destination. The term is ...

Natal NATAL or Natal may refer to: Places * Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, a city in Brazil * Natal, South Africa (disambiguation), a region in South Africa ** Natalia Republic, a former country (1839–1843) ** Colony of Natal, a former British colony ( ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

. It is thought to be distributed throughout the

Indo-West Pacific The Indo-Pacific is a vast biogeographic region of Earth. In a narrow sense, sometimes known as the Indo-West Pacific or Indo-Pacific Asia, it comprises the tropical waters of the Indian Ocean, the western and central Pacific Ocean, and the ...

. It has been reported from

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only state ...

but significant differences in colouration make this identification doubtful.Pittman, C. & Fiene, P., 2015
''Flabellina'' cf. ''rubropurpurata''
Sea Slugs of Hawaii Retrieved July 5, 2012

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q5456565 Samlidae Gastropods described in 1991