ZooKeys 197: Opisthobranchs from the western Indian Ocean, with descriptions of two new species and ten new records (Mollusca, Gastropoda)

This large work on sea slugs of the Western Indian Ocean is a major contribution to our knowledge of opisthobranch diversity and biogeography. The western Indian Ocean has long been known as a distinct biogeographical region, and reports of opisthobranchs from the province have been sporadic. Despite nearly 200 years of study, recent work estimates that there are more than 1000 undescribed species in the whole of the Indo-Pacific region. There have been considerable developments in the study of many taxonomic groups for the area in the last 50 years, including opisthobranchs, and this paper describes 70 species, of which ten species are recorded from the western Indian Ocean for the first time. Many phyllidiids and chromodorids seem to have a distribution limited to the western Indian Ocean, whilst there seem to be differences in species richness between coastal areas and island groups. Further work will shed light on many of these issues.

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