Phestilla sibogae
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| Phestilla sibogae | |
|---|---|
_Figure_33_(cropped).png) | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Mollusca |
| Class: | Gastropoda |
| Order: | Nudibranchia |
| Suborder: | Aeolidacea |
| Family: | Trinchesiidae |
| Genus: | Phestilla |
| Species: | P. sibogae |
| Binomial name | |
| Phestilla sibogae | |
| Synonyms | |
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Phestilla sibogae is a species of sea slug, an aeolid nudibranch, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Trinchesiidae.[2] The species feeds on the hard coral genus Porites. [3]
Phestilla sibogae is an aeolid nudibranch, described originally from preserved specimens. The colour of the body and rhinophores is described a light milky white, and the cerata dirty brownish-grey with a white tip. The dorsum in rounded into the lateral body. Down the middle of the back, from head to tail, is bare, the cerata attached at the sides[1]. The long, conical cerata were noted as strongly knobbly due to the solution the animals were preserved in[1], though the later false synonymy of P. sibogae with Phestilla lugubris suggest the two species bear a strong resemblance and thus the living creatures might also have knobbly cerata.
Please note that Phestilla sibogae Bergh, 1905 is a taxon fully unique from Trinchesia sibogae Bergh, 1905. Both animals were first described in the very same publication on adjacent pages[1], T. sibogae then called Hervia sibogae, and P. sibogae as it is now. There has been much confusion and mishandling of these taxa over the years, with erroneous synonymy and false representation occurring frequently.
Its sure assignment to the genus Phestilla can be owed to its tooth shape, "strongly elongated needle-shape denticles" characteristic to Phestilla.[4]