Kingdom Animalia Class Gastropoda Family Phyllidiidae Rank Species | Phylum Mollusca Superfamily Phyllidioidea Genus Phyllidiella | |
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Similar Phyllidiella, Phyllidiella rosans, Phyllidiella pustulosa, Phyllidiopsis, Phyllidia elegans | ||
Phyllidiella zeylanica is a species of sea slug, a dorid nudibranch, a shell-less marine gastropod mollusk in the family Phyllidiidae.
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Distribution
This species was described from Sri Lanka. It is reported throughout the tropical Indian Ocean, where it occurs from eastern Africa to Java.
Description
Phyllidiella zeylanica is characterised by its numerous, very tuberculate, pink ridges which curve to join anteriorly and posteriorly (but may be interrupted), its pale foot sole, and its dark triangular oral tentacles. It differs from Phyllidiella pustulosa which does not possess ridges, and from Phyllidiella rosans, which possesses relatively smooth rounded ridges (very tuberculate in P. zeylanica). For specimens of similar size, the rhinophoral clavus of P. zeylanica possesses fewer lamellae than P. rosans.