Revista Chilena de Historia Natural 79 (1): 3-12, 2006
RESEARCH ARTICLE
Nudibranchia from the remote southern Chilean Guamblin and Ipún islands (Chonos
Archipelago, 44-45°S), with re-description of Rostanga pulchra MacFarland, 1905
The southern Chilean archipelago and fjordland (41-52°S) thus far is very poorly
investigated also with regard to its nudibranch fauna. This study presents the first records of nudibranchs from remote islands of the
Chonos archipelago exposed to the open Pacific. Collecting data and some biological observations are given for the doridoidean
Archidoris fontaini, Diaulula punctuolata and Rostanga pulchra. Taxonomically relevant external and radular
characters of R. pulchra are redescribed and compared with literature data on conspecifics from Argentina and California.
The bipolar, cold-water adapted R. pulchra is critically compared with the western Atlantic, warm-water adapted R.
byga. New distributional data indicates that the Chiloé Island area (41-43°S) does not represent a strict southern distributional
barrier for warm-temperate eastern Pacific nudibranch species but is at least partly due to collecting bias.
Key words:
Nudibranchia, southern
Chile, zoogeography, taxonomy, Rostanga pulchra
