Sea Slugs: Unexpected Biodiversity and Distribution

Abstract

Sea slugs have been making a comeback in recent years, with international research producing papers on their taxonomy, biochemistry, biology, and biogeography. Several large expeditions have been made to the western Pacific, resulting in numerous papers and books. Sadly, the Red Sea has not benefitted from all this funding, and a Google Scholar search reveals only the older papers, all of which have already been covered in my book (Yonow 2008a) and last paper (Yonow 2008b). The book generated much interest and to date, a further 73 species have been reliably recorded from the Red Sea. The original lists of species with their zoogeographical distributions are updated with these records and corrections, and are provided in this chapter. Some previously unnamed species now have names which, in many cases, reflect known distributions; others have no names, but photographic records have been confirmed from elsewhere, and more research needs to be done to see whether any of the older names apply or whether they are indeed new species, but at least they are well recorded. Finally, many really are species new to science, which are known either to be endemic to the Red Sea or to have wider distributions, while a small group are so complex that the literature and photographic database are insufficient to determine their distributions. This chapter will present some of the species “discovered” since 2007, with comments on their probable identifications and distribution implications. A discussion of changes in distribution patterns and endemism over the last seven years concludes the chapter.