Aporodoris millegrana

Aporodoris millegrana (Alder & Hancock, 1854)

• Discodoris millegrana (Alder & Hancock, 1854)
• Doris millegrana Alder & Hancock, 1854 (original combination)
• Taringa fanabensis Ortea & Martínez, 1992
• Taringa millegrana (Alder & Hancock, 1854)
• Taringa tarifaensis Garcia-Gomez, Cervera & Garcia-Martin, 1993

Description
It can reach up to 30 mm in length. It is a very flattened animal with a broad mantle edge. Its general coloration is dark brown with some white small stains and spots. The rhinophores are laminated and coloured yellowish. The gill leaves, in number of six, are also yellowish with dark scores. The sheaths of both rhinophores and gills are slightly raised and tuberculated. The back is covered with tightly arranged small karyophyllic tubercles. The underside of the mantle is coloured light with dark scores.

Biology
It lives under stones in the upper infralitoral and in the intertidal zone. Nothing is known about its biology although an ancient paper indicates that it lives on sponges of the genus Halichondria.

Etymology

• Aporodoris. From Greek “Aporos” (ἄπορον) meaning something very difficult to understand; the word comes from the negative or privative particle “α” and the word πόρος (pass), + “Doris”.
• Doris, in Greek mythology, wife of Nereo, nymph of the waters and mother of Nereids.
• Millegrana. From Latin “mille”, one thousand + “grana”, grains. Due to the dorsum texture.

Distribution
French and British Atlantic Coasts, Madeira Island, Canary islands and Strait of Gibraltar. Molecular evidence (Fernández-Vilert et al., 2025) demonstrates that Mediterranean records attributed to this species correspond to Taringa armata Swennen, 1961.

Known georeferenced records of the species: Aporodoris millegrana

Sources:
OBIS GROC 2010-2011 Enric Madrenas João Pedro Silva Bernard Picton GBIF	OPK VIMAR Manuel Ballesteros M@re Nostrum Altres fonts Marine Regions

More pictures

Aporodoris millegrana @ Portugal by João Pedro Silva

Aporodoris millegrana (=Taringa tarifaensis)

Bibliography

1246567 Aporodoris millegrana 1 eunomia-revista-en-cultura-de-la-legalidad 50 creator asc 1 10630 https://opistobranquis.info/wp-content/plugins/zotpress/
Bibliography based on the works by Steve Long, 2006. Bibliography of Opisthobranchia 1554-2000 and Gary McDonald, 2009. Bibliographia Nudibranchia, with later updates from other resources.

Further reading

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