Pleurobranchus varians is a species of sea slug, a sidegill slug, a marine gastropod mollusc in the family Pleurobranchidae.
The sister species (the closest relative) is Pleurobranchus areolatus from Caribbean.[1] Those two species split 3.10 million years ago (Isthmus of Panama formed 3.1–3.4 Mya).[1] Both species have color morphs and for their proper determination is useful the knowledge of locality.[1]
The distribution of P. varians include the Hawaiian Islands and Vanuatu.[1] The type locality is Hawaiian Islands.[1]
P. varians was originally discovered and described by William Harper Pease in 1860. Pease' original text (the type description) reads as follow:
All species in the genus Pleurobranchus are carnivorous.[1]
This article incorporates public domain text from the reference