Pseudoceros zebra   Leuckart, 1828

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This species has been observed on Reunion, Mauritius, Mayotte and Madagascar Islands


Order : Polycladida
Suborder : Cotylea
Superfamily : Pseudocerotoidea
Family : Pseudocerotidae
Distribution : Indo West Pacific
Maximal size : 30 mm
Abundance :


Species characteristics :

Background body colour white with velvet purple to black transverse irregular black bands or patches

The white stripe pattern is composed of a longitudinal central stripe with several transverse stipes reaching the edge

Marginal band wide, yellow, may be interrupted by white stripes

 

Pseudoceros zebra
Showing species characteristics...

Photo Marina Poddubetskaia
Mauritius, "Gaetan Patchers", Pereybère, 16m, 17 October 2002, size : 25-30 mm

Remarks :

Leslie Newman think there's a real confusion between Pseudoceros zebra, P. scintillatus and P. imperatus. It is possible that they all form a single species. DNA studies needed to determine relationship between these " three species"
   For these three species, I separated the classic coloration pattern (according Newman, 2003) from ambiguous and unclassiable pattern, and I pull these under the name Pseudoceros scintillatus colour group

Bibliographic data :

Pseudotentacles simple folds
   Ventral surface rose coloured
   Habitat : Found on the reef slope under rubble
   Etymology : Zebra = zebra; for the striped pattern

References :

Discover life : Pseudoceros zebra

Publications :

Gosliner, T.M., Behrens, D.W. & Williams, G.C. (1996). Coral Reef Animals of the Indo-Pacific . Sea Challengers : Monterey 314 pp.
    Leuckart, F.S. (1828). Atlas zu der Reise im nordlichen Afrika. Neue wirbellose Thiere des rothen Meers. Rüppell, Ed. & Leuckart, F.S. Brönner, Frankfurt a. M. pp. 11 & 15
    Newman, L.J. & Cannon, L.R.G. (2003). Marine Flatworms: the world of Polyclads. CSIRO Publishing : Melbourne 112

Other photos of Pseudoceros zebra :


Alain-Benoît Rassat

Madagascar, Nosy bé, 16 m, 4 May 2013, size : 10-12 mm

A small specimen with a strange "cross pattern"...

 


 

 

Philibert Bidgrain

Mayotte, mtsanga mtiti Sada, less 1 m, 18 Jully 2010, size : 12-15 mm

 

 

 

 


Alain Diringer

Reunion, Cap la Houssaye, 17 September 2008

 


Philibert Bidgrain

Mayotte, mtsanga Tanaraki, less 1 m, 26 Jully 2008, size : 15 mm

 

Pseudoceros zebra.... or Pseudoceros scintillatus

 


 More photos from Indian Ocean