Eastern Pacific Nudibranch News: Catriona spadix Reinstated (previously Southern form of Catriona columbiana)

You don't have to do anything! I changed it automatically for you based on range. ;-)

Catriona spadix is now its own species; it was most recently called the southern form of Catriona columbiana. A reproduction of the lovely 1905 color illustration by Olive MacFarland (finally published 61 years later, in 1966) of 'Cratena spadix' appears on the acknowledgments page of Behrens et al, "Nudibranchs and Sea Slugs of the Eastern Pacific," 2022. Photographs of both species are on page 146.

To quote Dave Behrens in a 2002 SlugSite post: "C. columbiana has had a bouncy taxonomic past."

Mercifully, it's relatively easy to distinguish these two species, both by appearance and range. Catriona spadix has red-orange oral tentacles, whereas Catriona columbiana has white oral tentacles. (Both have red-orange rhinophores.) Range also helps, although they may overlap in Oregon. Catriona columbiana occurs from the Sea of Japan to Alaska to Cape Arago, Oregon, and Catriona spadix occurs from Cape Arago, Oregon to San Diego, California.

Here's a link to the paper: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/eva.13468

Posted on Μάρτιος 04, 2023 0128 ΠΜ by anudibranchmom