Colourful and sophisticated - that's how diverse sea snails are!

Phyllidia fontjei is named after Dr Fontje Kaligis, a deceased Indonesian researcher who was closely associated with the LIB and strongly committed to international research cooperation. Kaligis made a significant contribution to improving knowledge about biodiversity in North Sulawesi. Phyllidia fontjei is a small species of warty snail with a maximum documented size of 16 millimetres and is difficult to find. Nevertheless, it has been photographed in the ocean of Indonesia and Malaysia and in the Andaman Sea in the Indian Ocean. This species was described on the basis of a single reference animal, which the scientists refer to as the holotype.

This is how important citizen science is
The discoveries of these marine snails were made possible in large part by people who have no formal scientific training but are passionate about documenting and protecting the Earth's diversity. Photos and data posted on citizen science platforms like iNaturalist, social media like Facebook and dedicated snail communities like NudiPixel and the now-defunct Sea Slug Forum provided crucial information to researchers. They were important for the identification of these nudibranchs, which are new to science. They also help to realistically assess the geographical distribution of the animals, even if only a few specimens are available for study.

"We all use these platforms in many different areas of taxonomy as they provide useful records when species are distinctive, and have done so for more than two decades," says Dr Nathalie Yonow from Swansea University, one of the authors of the study.