Home Guide to Opisthobranchs Nudibranchia Doridina Doridoidei Doridoidea Aporodoris millegrana

Aporodoris millegrana

Aporodoris millegrana (Alder & Hancock, 1854)

Aporodoris millegrana by Enric Madrenas

Taxonomy
 

Superdomain

Biota  

 

Kingdom

Animalia  

 

Phylum

Mollusca  

 

Class

Gastropoda  

 

Subclass

Heterobranchia  

 

Infraclass

Euthyneura  

 

Subterclass

Ringipleura  

 

Superorder

Nudipleura  

 

Order

Nudibranchia  

 

Suborder

Doridina  

 

Infraorder

Doridoidei  

 

Superfamily

Doridoidea  

 

Family

Discodorididae  

 

Genus

Aporodoris  

 

Species

Aporodoris millegrana  (Alder & Hancock, 1854)

 
 Classification according to Bouchet et al. (2017)
Taxonomic source: World Register of Marine Species (AphiaID: 532402).
Synonyms

  • 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, Straits of Gibraltar and the Western Mediterranean. In Catalonia it is a rare species.

Known georeferenced records of the species: Aporodoris millegrana
Sources:
: OBIS
: GROC 2010-2011
: Enric Madrenas
: João Pedro Silva
: Bernard Picton
: GBIF.ORG		 : OPK
: VIMAR
: Manuel Ballesteros.
: M@re Nostrum
: Altres fonts
: Marine Regions

Abundance

    Western Mediterranean: ★☆☆☆☆
    Eastern Mediterranean: ☆☆☆☆☆
    Atlantic Ocean: ★☆☆☆☆
[wpbi_chart type="bar" id="1" height="250" /]
Month

This chart displays the monthly observation probability for Aporodoris millegrana based on our own records.

More pictures

Aporodoris millegrana
Aporodoris millegrana
Aporodoris millegrana
Aporodoris millegrana
Aporodoris millegrana @ Caials 20140531 by Miquel Pontes
Aporodoris millegrana @ Caials 20140531 by Miquel Pontes
Aporodoris millegrana @ Caials 20140531 by Miquel Pontes

Bibliography

    Alder J, Hancock A. 1854. A monograph of the British nudibranchiate Mollusca: with figures of all the species. Ray Society, London. Available from www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/131598#page/200/mode/1up.
    Ballesteros M, Madrenas E, Pontes M. 2016. Actualización del catálogo de los moluscos opistobranquios (Gastropoda: Heterobranchia) de las costas catalanas. Spira. 6:1–28.
    Ballesteros M, Pontes M, Madrenas E. 2019. Els nudibranquis del mar català. Figueres: Brau Edicions. 192 p.
    Ballesteros M, Madrenas E, Pontes M. 2025. OPK - Opistobranquis. Available from https://opistobranquis.info/.
    Bergh LSR. 1898. Die Opisthobranchier der Sammlung Plate. Zoologische Jahrbucher Supplement 4(3):481-582, pls. 28-33.
    Cervera JL, García-Gómez JC. 1989. A new species of the genus Thordisa (Molusca: Nudibranchia) from the southwestern Iberian Peninsula. The Veliger 32 (4): 382-389.
    Cervera JL, Calado G, Gavaia C, et al. 2004. An annotated and updated checklist of the opisthobranchs (Mollusca: Gastropoda) from Spain and Portugal (including islands and archipelagos). Boletín Instituto Español de Oceanografía, 20 (1-4): 1-111. L.
    Eliot CNE. 1910. A monograph of the British nudibranchiate Mollusca: with figures of the species; Figures by the late Joshua Alder and the late Albany Hancock, and others. Ray Society, London.
    García-Gómez JC, Cervera JL, García-Martín SF. 1993. A new species of dorid nudibranch of the genus Taringa Marcus, 1955 (Mollusca: Opisthobranchia) from the southern Iberian Peninsula, with remarks on world species of the genus. Journal of Natural History. 27(3):565–574. https://doi.org/10.1080/00222939300770321.
    Long SJ. 2006. Bibliography of Opisthobranchia 1554-2000. Bayside Books & Press, Tustin, CA, U.S.A. 672p.
    Malaquias MAE, Cervera JL, López-González PJ. 2001. The Opisthobranch Molluscs from Porto Santo Island (Madeira Archipelago, Northeastern Atlantic Ocean). Iberus 19 (1): 75-82.
    Marcus E d. BR. 1977. An annotated checklist of the western Atlantic warm water opisthobranchs. J. Molluscan Stud., Suppl 4:1-23.
    Marcus EG. 1955. Opisthobranchia from Brazil. Boletim da Faculdade de Filosofia, Ciencias e Letras, Universidade de Sao Paulo, Zoology, 207, 20:89-261, pls. 1-30.
    Marcus E d. BR, Marcus EG. 1969. Euthyneure Meeresschnecken Brasiliens (2). Beitrage zur Neotropischen Fauna 6(1):1-16; figs. 1-28.
    Marcus E d. BR, Marcus EG. 1967. American opisthobranch mollusks Part I, Tropical American opisthobranchs. Studies in Tropical Oceanography, Miami 6(1-2):vii + 1-256, 1 pl.
    McDonald G. 2009. Bibliographia Nudibranchia. 2nd Online Edition, Annotated. 1072 pp  Institute of Marine Sciences, University of California, Santa Cruz. Available from http://escholarship.org/uc/item/8115h0wz.
    Moro L, Martín Esquivel JL, Garrido Sanahuja MJ, et al. 2003. Lista de especies marinas de Canarias (algas, hongos, plantas y animales). Consejería de Política Territorial y Medio Ambiente del Gobierno de Canarias. 248 p.
    Nordsieck F. 1972. Die europäischen Meeresschnecken : (Opisthobranchia mit Pyramidellidae, Rissoacea) : vom Eismeer bis Kapverdem, Mittelmeer und Schawarzes Meer. Stuttgart: Gustav Fischer. XIII, 327 p. p.
    Ortea JA, Pérez-Sánchez JM, Llera González EM. 1982. Moluscos Opistobranquios recolectados durante el Plan de Bentos Circuncanario. Doridacea: primera parte (1). Cuadernos del CRINAS. 3:1–48.
    Ortea J, Moro L, Bacallado JJ. 2015. Babosas Marinas Canarias. Turquesa Ediciones.
    Pruvot-Fol A. 1954. Mollusques opisthobranches. Paris, France: Paul Lechevalier (Faune de France). 460 p.
    Rios EC. 1975. Brazilian marine mollusks iconography, 331 pp, 91 pls. Fundacao Universidade do Rio Grande, Centro de Ciencias do Mar, Museu Oceanografico.
    Sánchez-Tocino L. 2018. El Litoral de Granada - Opistobranquios. El Litoral de Granada. Available from https://litoraldegranada.ugr.es/el-litoral/el-litoral-sumergido/fauna/moluscos/gasteropodos/opistobranquios/.
    Seaward DR. 1982. Sea area atlas of the marine molluscs of Britain and Ireland. Conchological Society of Great Britain & Ireland / Nature Conservancy Council, 242 pp.
    Silva JP. 2008 2014. Aporodoris millegrana accessed through: Hypselodoris, Lesmas do Mar on 2014-12-21. Available from http://hypselodoris.blogspot.com/2012/06/taringa-millegrana-alder-hancock-1854.html.
    Step E. 1945. Shell life. An introduction to the British Mollusca, 443 pp, 32 pls. Frederick Warne & Co., Ltd., London.
    Thiele J. 1931. Handbuch der systematischen Weichtierkunde 1. Jena (Fischer): i-vi, 1-778, 783 figs.
    Thiele J, Bieler R, Mikkelsen PM. 1992. Handbook of systematic malacology. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Libraries : National Science Foundation.
    Thompson TE. 1964. Grazing and the life cycles of British nudibranchs, pp 275-297, In: D. J. Crisp (ed ), Grazing in terrestrial and marine environments. British Ecological Society Symposium No. 4, 322 pp Blackwell, Oxford.
    Thompson TE, Brown GH. 1981. Allocation of the nudibranch Doris millegrana Alder & Hancock, 1854 to the genus Discodoris Bergh, 1877, after re-examination of the type material. Zool. J. Linn. Soc. 72(3):263-266.
    Thompson TE, Brown GH. 1976. British opisthobranch molluscs Mollusca: Gastropoda; keys and notes for the identification of the species. London: Acad. Pr. (Synopses of the British fauna). 203 S. p.
    Todd CD. 1981. The ecology of nudibranch molluscs. Oceanography & Marine Biology Annual Review 19:141-234.
    Trainito E, Doneddu M. 2014. Nudibranchi del Mediterraneo. 2nd. Il Castello. 192 p.
    White KM. 1938. The nomenclature of British nudibranch Mollusca by Alder and Hancock and by Eliot correlated with that of British Marine Mollusca by Winckworth. Journal of Conchology 21(1):14-19.
    Winckworth R. 1932. The British marine Mollusca. Journal of Conchology 19(7):211-252.
    Wirtz P. 1999. Opisthobranch Molluscs from the archipelago of Madeira. Vita Marina. 46(1–2):1–18.
    WoRMS Editorial Board. 2025. World Register of Marine Species. WoRMS. Available from http://www.marinespecies.org.

    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

Cite this article as:

Ballesteros, M., Madrenas, E. & Pontes, M. (2012-2025) "Aporodoris millegrana" in OPK-Opistobranquis. Published: 04/10/2013. Accessed: 05/02/2025. Available at (https://opistobranquis.info/en/?p=10630)