Aiteng

Aiteng
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Mollusca
Class:	Gastropoda
(unranked):	clade Heterobranchia clade Euthyneura clade Panpulmonata clade Acochlidiacea^[1] clade Hedylopsacea^[1]
Family:	Aitengidae Swennen & Buatip, 2009^[2]
Genus:	Aiteng Swennen & Buatip, 2009^[2]
Diversity
2 species

Aiteng is a genus of sea slugs, a marine gastropod molluscs.^[2]

Aiteng is the only genus in the family Aitengidae.^[2]

The generic name Aiteng is derived from the name of a black puppet Ai Theng, which is one of the shadow play (Nang yai) puppets in southern Thailand.^[2]

Taxonomy

Swennen & Buatip (2009)^[2] tentatively classified Aitengidae within the Sacoglossa,^[2] but they noted that some characteristics of the nervous system are similar to those of the Cephalaspidea and Acochlidioidea (mentioned as Acochlidea).^[2]

Aitengidae clusters within the Hedylopsacea as sister group to Pseudunelidae and Acochlidiidae or basal within Hedylopsacea.^[1] Philippe Bouchet (2010)^[3] classified Aitengidae within the superfamily Hedylopsoidea.^[3]

Species in the genus Aiteng include:

Aiteng ater Swennen & Buatip, 2009^[2] - is the only (described) species in the genus Aiteng
nomen nudum Aiteng mysticus from Japan^[4]^[5] - This is still undescribed species was found in Hisamatsu, Miyako Island, Okinawa, Japan.^[1] Morphologically it clearly belongs to the Aitengidae, but shows differences to Aiteng ater at genus or species level.^[1] Its affinity to Aiteng ater is confirmed by comparison of the mitochondrial 16S rRNA-sequences.^[1]

The distribution of Aiteng ater includes Thailand.^[2] The distribution of Aiteng mysticus includes Japan.^[1]

Aiteng ater lives "amphibiously" in mangrove forests in the intertidal zone, on the mud.^[2]

This article incorporates CC-BY-2.0 text from the reference.^[1]

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h Jörger K. M., Stöger I., Kano Y., Fukuda H., Knebelsberger T. & Schrödl M. (2010). "On the origin of Acochlidia and other enigmatic euthyneuran gastropods, with implications for the systematics of Heterobranchia". BMC Evolutionary Biology 10: 323. doi:10.1186/1471-2148-10-323.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k Swennen C. & Buatip S. "Aiteng ater, new genus, new species, an amphibious and insectivorous sea slug that is difficult to classify [Mollusca: Gastropoda: Opisthobranchia: Sacoglossa(?): Aitengidae, new family]". The Raffles Bulletin of Zoology 57(2): 495–500. PDF.
^ ^a ^b Bouchet P. (2010). "Aitengidae". Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=547522 on 2010-11-28
^ Neusser T. P., Fukuda H., Jörger K. M., Kano Y. & Schrödl M. (in press) "Sacoglossa or Acochlidia? 3D-reconstruction, molecular phylogeny and evolution of Aiteng ater and Aiteng mysticus n. sp. (Aitengidae, Gastropoda)". Journal of Molluscan Studies.
^ Neusser T. P., Jörger K. M. & Schrödl M. (2011). "Cryptic Species in Tropic Sands - Interactive 3D Anatomy, Molecular Phylogeny and Evolution of Meiofaunal Pseudunelidae (Gastropoda, Acochlidia)". PLoS ONE 6(8): e23313. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0023313.