NZ Dendrodoris
Hello All!
I have previously been identifying black Dendrodoris from NZ as D. arborescens due to the marginal red line on the mantle.
Black Dendrodoris have not been genetically studied in NZ so to give them a name we have to refer to Australian literature. In Australian this species exhibits colour polymorphism (i.e., fully black, white speckles, sub-marginal, marginal red lines) I believe this variation also occurs in NZ. Thus meaning that a marginal red line is not a suitable difference between the two species.
Dendrodoris nigra has been a well established name to the NZ species for a very long time and to use the name D. arborescens on iNaturalist could cause taxonomic instability. So to avoid further confusion I am going to revert all my IDs of black Dendrodoris to D. nigra. Sorry for any confusion this has caused.
A HUGE thanks to Dr Richard Willan for providing me with taxonomic advice in NZ sea slugs.
Cheers,
Zach
Comentarios
Hi Zach,
Thank you for the update. They appear like D. arborescens based on the colouration, however we definitely should not ID them with no clear source. At the moment, the name D. nigra has been widely used for the population in NZ and I agree that we should follow that as well unless a clear evidence which suggests that it is D. arborescens is published in the future.
I will also revert my IDs.
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