This species has been observed on Madagascar Island

Order : Cephalaspidea Superfamily : Philinoidea Family : Aglajidae Distribution : Indonesia and Madagascar Maximal size : 30 mm Abundance : Species characteristics : The general body color of the living animal is whitish with a V-shaped maroon patch present on the head. Pale and discreet yellow spots on the dorsal and lateral surface of the body The posterior shield terminated in an elongated conical posterior protrusion that is well-elevated from the base of the shield.
	Showing species characteristics...	Photo Alain-Benoît Rassat Madagascar, Nosy Bé, Olaf, 19 m, 29 November 2015, size : 30 mm

See more about : Sightening and mating periods

Remarks

Identification proposed by Terry Gosliner and Hsini Lin. According Terry Gosliner " Certainly close to S. coronatus, but the coloration looks pretty different. Nosy bé is fairly far from the western Pacific..."
    Our specimen looks like specimen from indonesia nudipixel and looks like S. coronatus but there are some differences in S. coronatus :
          - Maroon spots are present along the parapodial margins only some tiny and pale in our specimen...
          - The entire dorsal and lateral surfaces of the body are ornamented with scattered, irregular yellow spots and a few whitish patches
    But the species has been decribed from a single animal ... difficult in this case to know variability ...
    Synonymous : (according Worms)
               - Philinopsis cf. coronata Gosliner, 2011

Bibliographic data :

The cephalic shield is roughly rectangular and terminates posteriorly with an elongate, rounded papilla
    The posterior shield is slightly rounded anteriorly and terminates in an elongate conical posterior protrusion that is well-elevated from the base of the shield. The two lateral posterior lobes of the posterior shield are elongate and simply rounded. The left posterior lobe is longer than the right one.
    The parapodia are very short, leaving most of the cephalic and posterior shields visible
    Etymology : The name “coronata” comes from the Latin corona , meaning crown. This refers to the ring of rounded tubercles at the apex of the penis, which resemble a crown.

References :

   Nudipixel Philinopsis sp

Publications :

Gosliner T.M. (2011) Six new species of aglajid opisthobranch mollusks from the tropical Indo-Pacific. Zootaxa 2751: 1–24
    Zamora-Silva A. & Malaquias M.A.E. (2017). Molecular phylogeny of the Aglajidae head-shield sea slugs (Heterobranchia: Cephalaspidea): new evolutionary lineages revealed and proposal of a new classification. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society.

Other photos of Spinophallus cf. coronatus :

Barbara Bini Madagascar, Nosy bé, 16 m, May 2018, size : 2 mm   May be a juvenile form of this species...

   More photos from Indian Ocean

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