Alderia willowi | |
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Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Mollusca |
Class: | Gastropoda |
(unranked): | clade Heterobranchia informal group Opisthobranchia clade Sacoglossa clade Placobranchacea |
Superfamily: | Limapontioidea |
Family: | Limapontiidae |
Genus: | Alderia |
Species: | A. willowi |
Binomial name | |
Alderia willowi Krug, Patrick et al., 2007[1] |
Alderia willowi is a species of sea slug, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Limapontiidae. It is a sacoglossan.[1]
This species is endemic to California.[2] It was previously thought to be Alderi modesta, but there turned out to be a cryptic species pair.
This species is poecilogonous, in other words it has variable larval development modes.[1]
The slug was discovered by a team led by Patrick Krug of California State University, Los Angeles.[1] The species is named after Krug's grandmother, and after the fictional character Willow Rosenberg from Buffy the Vampire Slayer television series.[2]