Felimare tricolor
| Felimare tricolor | |
|---|---|
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| Felimare tricolor | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Mollusca |
| Class: | Gastropoda |
| (unranked): | clade Heterobranchia clade Euthyneura clade Nudipleura clade Nudibranchia |
| Superfamily: | Doridoidea |
| Family: | Chromodorididae |
| Genus: | Felimare |
| Species: | F. tricolor |
| Binomial name | |
| Felimare tricolor (Cantraine, 1835)[1] | |
| Synonyms[2] | |
| |
Felimare tricolor is a colourful species of sea slug or dorid nudibranch, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Chromodorididae.[1][2]
Synonymy
The original description of Doris tricolor was considered so poor by Gosliner (1990) that he considered that the name should be abandoned. Posteriorly Ortea, Valdes & Garcia-Gomez (1996) selected a neotype for Cantraine's Doris tricolor and synonymized with it Hypselodoris midatlantica Gosliner, 1990. Ortea et al.'s neotype selection is contested by Gosliner (see http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/3807), and there are thus different opinions on the valid name for the taxonomical species involved. Overall, the European school uses Hypselodoris tricolor and the American school uses Hypselodoris midatlantica. As the neotype designation has not been rejected by the ICZN, we follow here the traditional European usage.[2]
Distribution
This nudibranch is found from the Western Mediterranean to the Eastern Atlantic Ocean.
Description
Hypselodoris tricolor has a blue body with white-to-orange longitudinal lines running along the body. There is also a single central white-orange line on the upper dorsum. The gills and rhinophores are black. There is some variation in colour between individuals.
This species can reach a total length of at least 25 mm and has been observed feeding on sponges from the genus Dysidea.[1]
References
- Rudman W.B. (1984) The Chromodorididae (Opisthobranchia: Mollusca) of the Indo-West Pacific: a review of the genera. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 81 (2/3): 115-273. page(s): 216
- Ortea, J., Valdés, A. & and García-Gómez, J.C. (1996) Revisión de las especies atlánticas de la familia Chromodorididae (Mollusca: Nudibranchia) de grupo cromático azul. (Review of the Atlantic species of the family Chromodorididae (Mollusca: Nudibranchia) of the blue chromatic group.) Avicennia, 1996, Suppl. 1: 1-165.
- Gofas, S.; Le Renard, J.; Bouchet, P. (2001). Mollusca, in: Costello, M.J. et al. (Ed.) (2001). European register of marine species: a check-list of the marine species in Europe and a bibliography of guides to their identification. Collection Patrimoines Naturels, 50: pp. 180–213
- Debelius, H. & Kuiter, R.H. (2007) Nudibranchs of the world. ConchBooks, Frankfurt, 360 pp. ISBN 978-3-939767-06-0 page(s): 112
- Johnson R.F. & Gosliner T.M. (2012) Traditional taxonomic groupings mask evolutionary history: A molecular phylogeny and new classification of the chromodorid nudibranchs. PLoS ONE 7(4): e33479