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Dendrodoris tuberculosa

Multimedia & Additional Resources

Type	Description	Download
Image:	Adult and head detail	70KB
Image:	Undersdie from www.seaslugforum.net	22KB

General Information

GLOBAL DISTRIBUTION: NATIVE e.Africa - Solomons & Lord Howe, Cooks; Hawai‘i; n. to s.Japan

COOK ISLANDS STATUS: Native; Marine, near-shore, reef-flat, benthic

KEY FEATURES: Large seaslug, to 17cm. Body rather stiff. Several larger knobs (=tubercles) each covered with many small conical knobs; skin between the large knobs also covered with small conical knobs. Two protruding antennae (=rhinophores)with conspicuously expnnded tips. Posteriorly a finely divided protruding gill. Most distinctive feature of tuberculosa is mantle underside which is pale greenish to yellowish-brown to dark brown with large round white spots.

SIMILAR SPECIES: Warty Seaslug (Dendrodoris carbunculosa) large knobs with only 1-few small knobs (vs. covered with small conical knobs); skin between large knobs smooth (vs. covered with small knobs); underside uniformly grey-brown (vs. with large white spots).

Enlarged Image of 'Dendrodoris tuberculosa'

Cook Islands Distribution

View Distribution Map

Southern Group: Present Makatea:
RR	MG	AT	MK	MT	AK	PL	TK	MN
+

Northern Group:
TN	MH	RK	PK	NS	SW

Key to Symbols

blank	no data
-	absent	L	localised
X	extinct 'naturally'	W	widespread
XQi	quarantine intercepted	R	recent
XQe	eradicated	?	query preceding category
P	present	T?	taxonomic query
S	seasonal	nn	present, said to have no name
O	occasional	?1	present, name not investigated
++++	very common	?2	presence not verified, no name recorded
+++	common	N/A	absent, name not expected
++	uncommon
+	rare
Cook Islands islands: RR =Rarotonga, MG = Mangaia, AT =‘Ātiu, MK=Ma‘uke, MT=Miti‘āro, AK=Aitutaki, PL=Palmerston, PN=Penrhyn, MN=Manuae, TK=Takūtea, TN=Tongareva (TS=Tongaleva Spoken, TW=Tongareva Written, they say "el" but write "r"), MH=Manihiki, RK=Rakahanga, PK=Pukapuka, NS=Nassau, SW=Suwarrow. After a Polynesian name: ^=orthography query. Countries and other: FIJ=Fiji, WT=Wallis & Futuna, SAM=Samoa, TON=Tonga, NIU=Niue, CK=Cook Islands, CKM=Cook Islands Māori, FP=French Polynesia, AUS=Australs, SOC=Societies, TAH=Tahiti, TUA=Tuamotus, MQS=Marquesas, MNG=Mangareva, PIT=Pitcain group, EAS=Easter Island, HAW=Hawai‘i, NZ=New Zealand, NZM=New Zealand Māori

Scientific Taxonomy

Dendrodoris tuberculosa (Quoy & Gaimard, 1832)
SYNONYMS: Doris rugosa Peace, 1860

TAXONOMY: ANIMALIA; MOLLUSCA; GASTROPODA; OPISTHOBRANCHIA; Nudibranchia; Doridacea; CHROMODORIDIDAE

Vouchers & References

Vouchers:
Rarotonga fieldspecimen+photo, Nikao reef-flat, 7/2005, Mike Cucknell, ID with G.McCormack as Dendrodoris tuberculosa based on info www.seaslugforum.net, 7/2005.

References:
None recorded.

Data Update History (information):
zTX, zB05b, zM05b, zD05a

Web Resources

Citation Information

McCormack, Gerald (2007) Cook Islands Biodiversity Database, Version 2007.2. Cook Islands Natural Heritage Trust, Rarotonga. Online at http://cookislands.bishopmuseum.org.
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